Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum: Species with longest known neck among dinosaurs

A new study has revealed that the dinosaur Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum, a late Jurassic Chinese sauropod, had the longest neck of any animal that has ever existed.

The Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum really stuck its neck out, measuring nearly 50ft - or 1.5 times the length of a double-decker bus, reports the Telegraph. 

Its long-necked feature allowed the animal to achieve its huge body size due to its ability to stand in one spot hoovering up tons of vegetation while having to use little energy. 

With the help of new computer scanning technology, researchers were able to discover data that proved that the dinosaur's vertebrae were lightweight and hollow - similar to the skeletons of birds.

The researcher's data showed that between 69 and 77 per cent of the Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum neck vertebrae were hollow.

According to the reports, they evolved special pump-like air sacs to help the animal's breath travel a huge distance to the lungs.

Prof Paul Barrett, dinosaur expert at the Natural History Museum London, said: "Like all other sauropod dinosaurs, Mamenchisaurus had a complex breathing apparatus that included not only the lungs, but also numerous balloon-like air sacs.

"These were connected to the lungs and windpipe but spread throughout the interior of the animal's neck, chest and abdomen.

"Taken in combination, these air sacs had a much greater volume than the lungs, and they even went inside the bones, hollowing them out.

"This extra space would have helped these gigantic sauropods to move the large volume of air in the lengthy windpipe that would have occupied their extraordinary necks."

Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum lived around 162 million years ago, were first discovered in northwest China in 1987.

The Mamenchisauridae family roamed East Asia and possibly other parts of the world from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous - approximately 174 to 114 million years ago. Only a handful of bones from the neck and skull were found.

In a recent study, experts used the most complete skeletons of close relatives to conclude that its neck was nearly 50ft long - the longest of any known dinosaur.

Lead author Dr Andrew Moore, a palaeontologist from Stony Brook University, said: "All sauropods were big, but jaw-droppingly long necks didn't evolve just once.

"Mamenchisaurids are important because they pushed the limits on how long a neck can be and were the first lineage of sauropods to do so.

"With a 15-metre-long neck, it looks like Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum might be a record-holder - at least until something longer is discovered."

The Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum's ability to reach high made the species successful with the sauropod lineage making its way through dinosaur evolutionary history and persisting until the final days of the Mesozoic, when most of the dinosaurs were wiped out due to an asteroid.