Camarasaurus Dinosaur Collection
Camarasaurus was named in 1877 after Edward Drinker Cope bought the first fossils from Oramel W. Lucas. These remains were of an incomplete individual but were still valuable to Cope because the vertebrae had hollow chambers, something that gave rise to the name of ‘chambered lizard’. Back then these chambers were more curious and were presumed to have been a weight-saving feature that considerably reduced the weight of such a large dinosaur. Today however these chambers are interpreted as being air sacs that were actually part of the respiratory system of Camarasaurus. These features are seen in other sauropods, as well as similar systems in other dinosaur groups such as in the theropod Aerosteon, and would go to be called an avian-like respiratory system as birds also have similar air sacs inside their bodies.