Sauropods on hind legs

[Richard W. Travsky]

When was the first conjecture of sauropods rearing up on their hind legs? There was a popular press article on the topic last fall and I recently acquired and read a reprint volume of the 1933 Alley Oop dailies wherein a couple of characters are chased up a tree by a sauropod which is then on its hind legs trying to get at them.

 

The 1914 animated short "Gertie the Dinosaur" had its sauropod on two legs (to dance). Artistic license no doubt for both but am curious if there was anything published at the time from which the artists derived inspiration.

[Ben Creisler]

Ben Creisler

bcre...@gmail.com

Charles R. Knight depicted a Diplodocus rearing on its hind legs in 1907, so the idea came earlier:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diplodocus_cknight.jpg

On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 2:38 PM 'Richard W. Travsky' via Dinosaur Mailing Group <DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

When was the first conjecture of sauropods rearing up on their hind legs? There was a popular press article on the topic last fall and I recently acquired and read a reprint volume of the 1933 Alley Oop dailies wherein a couple of characters are chased up a tree by a sauropod which is then on its hind legs trying to get at them.

 

The 1914 animated short "Gertie the Dinosaur" had its sauropod on two legs (to dance). Artistic license no doubt for both but am curious if there was anything published at the time from which the artists derived inspiration.

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[Mike Taylor]

See the section "A short history of rearing sauropods" in the in-progress manuscript "The skeletal reconstruction of Barosaurus lentus in the American Museum of Natural History", which you can find in the repository at https://github.com/MikeTaylor/palaeo-baromount/tree/main

-- Mike.

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[Tyler Greenfield]

"The first ever life restoration featuring sauropods is Charles R. Knight’s 1897 drawing, created under the supervision of E. D. Cope, appearing in Ballou (1897:20) and reproduced in Osborn and Mook (1921:figure 127). This shows several Amphicoelias individuals in mostly submerged rearing postures."

Just a minor correction to your manuscript Mike, but Knight's Amphicoelias group was not the first life restoration of sauropods. There are at least three earlier examples I know of. One is an uncredited 1892 illustration of Amphicoelias, which was clearly an inspiration for Knight's rendition (especially the patterning). The others are an 1892 illustration of Brontosaurus by Joseph Smit and an 1886 illustration of Atlantosaurus by Jules Blanadet.

References:

• Culver, J.E. (1892, April). Some extinct giants. The Californian Illustrated Magazine, 1(5), 501–507.
• Flammarion, C. (1886). Le monde avant la création de l'homme. Origines de la terre. Origines de la vie. Origines de l'humanité. C. Marpon et E. Flammarion.
• Hutchinson, H.N. (1892). Extinct monsters: A popular account of some of the larger forms of ancient animal life. Chapman & Hall. [This links to the more widely-circulated 3rd edition from 1893.]

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[Tyler Greenfield]

Sorry, the 1892 illustration of Amphicoelias is by Carl Dahlgren, not uncredited.

[Gregory Paul]

Osborn and especially Riggs discussed rearing sauropods around the last turn of the century, which inspired Knight. Then it was pretty much forgotten until Bakker brought it back in an encyclopedia year book in the early 70s -- it was pretty shocking at the time. 

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[Mike Taylor]

This is AWESOME! Thanks so much, Tyler.

"The best way to get information on Usenet isn't to ask a question, but to post the wrong information" -- aa...@netcom.com

-- Mike.

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[Richard W. Travsky]

Thanks for the replies. I did go look for the Knight painting. Scientific American, June 1907 volume 96 number 24 page 485. Interesting juxtaposition, one rearing on hind legs with one in the water. The painting was done for an article on Diplodocus ("The animal was principally aquatic…"). Nice picture of a crew engaged in mounting the skeleton though.

 

 

 

[Richard W. Travsky]

Meant to include the link

 

https://catalog.lindahall.org/discovery/delivery/01LINDAHALL_INST:LHL/12101915570005961

 

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