en
Download

Prehistoric Life

How long was Elasmosaurus platyurus?

An adult Elasmosaurus platyurus had a total length of about 10.3 m (34 ft).

What is measured: adult, total body length

Elasmosaurus platyurus (10.3 m) drawn to scale beside a 20-foot shipping container (6.06 m) and a city bus (12 m)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: Shipping container (20 ft) (6.06 m), Elasmosaurus platyurus (10.3 m) and City bus (12 m).

Compare

How big is that, really?

  • A little shorter than a city bus
  • About 1.7× as long as a 20-foot shipping container
  • About 2 would fit end to end along a tennis court
  • About 4 would fit end to end along an Olympic swimming pool
  • About 5.2× the height of a doorway

Learn

Facts about Elasmosaurus platyurus

Elasmosaurus had an extraordinarily long neck containing more than 70 vertebrae, among the most of any vertebrate.

Source: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Elasmosaurus; University of California Museum of Paleontology — Elasmosaurus

Prehistoric Life

NameSizeCompared with Elasmosaurus platyurus
Parasaurolophus walkeri9.5 m (31 ft)0.92×
Allosaurus fragilis9.7 m (32 ft)0.94×
Therizinosaurus cheloniformis10 m (33 ft)0.97×
Hatzegopteryx thambema10 m (33 ft)0.97×
Amargasaurus cazaui10 m (33 ft)0.97×
Tarbosaurus bataar10 m (33 ft)0.97×
Elasmosaurus platyurus10.3 m (34 ft)this page
Kronosaurus queenslandicus10.5 m (34 ft)1×
Deinocheirus mirificus11 m (36 ft)1.1×
Suchomimus tenerensis11 m (36 ft)1.1×

Test your sense of scale

Order from biggest to smallest

0 of 3 placed

Topics

More sizes like this