Many dinosaur bones were hollowed out by air-sacks extending from their lungs. Because of this, their skeleton was lighter. This means dinosaurs could support a much larger body with their 4 legs, while a solid-boned animal of a similar size would’ve weighted more than its dinosaur counterpart. Some of the largest plant-eating dinosaurs weighed as much as 80 tonnes. In comparison, the largest elephants in the world weigh just 6 tonnes.

Some dinosaurs also had super-efficient respiratory systems that helped them disperse the heat generated from their metabolism. For example, sauropods, the longest dinosaurs there were, might’ve grown to their enormous size thanks to this system.

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