Brachiosaurus

      Although there is disagreement and heated debate on just about every aspect of the Brachiosaurus, everyone seems to agree that he had bright cheerful eyes and a very charming smile.

      You don't have to spend much time in the Jurassic Period before you begin to recognize the difference between a smiling face on a meat-eater and a smiling face on an herbivore.

      Brachiosaurus could stuff his face with over 200 pounds of delicious leaves every day, and that may have contributed to his cheer. Just to be polite, he could stretch his 30 foot long neck up to 40 feet high to get the leaves that were over 10 meters above your head.

      It is important to note that a Brachiosaurus was never actually tamed or trained by a human. This is mostly because there were no humans around at the time.

      One of the distinguishing features of Brachiosaurus is that his little head comes apart from his neck very easily. This can cause countless problems. For a paper modeler, a little bit of glue will remedy the situation, but for paleontologists it's another matter.

      In 1883, a paleontologist named Othniel C. Marsh received a skull that was found in Colorado, and he mounted it on the skeleton of a Brontosaurus. It stayed there for almost a hundred years before anyone realized the mistake. The skull had a robust, wide muzzle and thick jaw bones, with spoon–shaped teeth - perfect for eating chocolate pudding! It's no surprise that the person who discovered the mistake also very much liked chocolate pudding.

      In 1900, another paleontologist named Elmer Riggs discovered an almost complete skeleton of Brachiosaurus in Colorado that was missing, you guessed it, the skull.

      Since Broccoliosaurus eggs are so rare that they have never been discovered, it will probably be better for you to use real broccoli which is available at your local Farmer's Market, or in your backyard if you have a nice garden. If neither of these options seems practical, you might consider building one out of paper or cardstock.

      Fiddlersgreen has a nice pattern that you can print on your printer after you download it from your online folder. If you don't have a Magic Keys subscription, or if you are a teacher who wants to share it with the class, or if you don't have a credit card that's not maxed out yet, or if you are simply too cautious to use your credit card in conjunction with the internet, then just write to me and I'll be happy to include it in your folder.

      A pair of scissors and some regular white glue will be helpful, and the assembly instructions will help you to see how it goes together. If it doesn't come out quite right, then have no fear, because you can always print out another one and build it again until it comes out the way you want it to.