Schleich Brontosaurus Dinosaur Figure

This is a Schleich figure of the Brontosaurus, a large dinosaur whose name means thunder lizard. It suits collectors of the Schleich Dinosaurs range and children who like to build a prehistoric scene on a shelf or table.

Scientists have found a skeleton of the real animal but no skull, so its head is thought to have been fairly small, much like that of Apatosaurus. Researchers once believed it could use its tail like a whip, and that idea is one of the things that has changed as more has been learned.

The gaps in the fossil record make the Brontosaurus a good subject for a conversation about how palaeontologists work out what an animal looked like from incomplete remains.