The Apatosaurus is also well known as the Brontosaurus. Confusion was caused when bones of the giant dinosaur were first discovered back in 1877 by Othniel Charles Marsh. After naming the new dinosaur Apatosaurus (meaning deceptive lizard), he later found a larger set of bones and incorrectly thought they were a new species which he then named Brontosaurus (meaning thunder lizard). It turns out that the second set of bones were just the adult version of the Apatosaurus. The name Brontosaurus caught on and it wasn’t until recently that the original and technically correct name Apatosaurus has gained widespread use among the public.

Apatosaurus was represented in the popular Transformers toy line and animated series as Sludge, an Autobot that could transform into an Apatosaurus form.