While it is impossible to know if the three were a "family," they quite likely belonged to the same herd. All were recovered from the same dino quarry in Wyoming by researchers from the University of Kansas. They discovered Annabelle while searching for Lyle's missing tail.

Lyle and Annabelle were both full-grown adults, with Lyle being among the biggest Camarasauruses ever unearthed. Any adult Camarasaurus would have been "predator-proof," according to Dino Lab paleontologist Matt Christopher.

"They were just too big," he explains. "Predators might have looked for stragglers in the herd or the small ones, like Nic-Mic. Otherwise, they would have just walked away from a Camarasaurus."

Camarasauruses were vegetarians that essentially spent every waking hour eating. They had to consume so much to support their 30- to 40-ton bulk.

"You can learn a lot about the life a dinosaur lived from studying their bones," says Matt. "Did they have any injuries that healed? How old were they, and obviously how big? There have been bigger dinos than Lyle that have been found, but not many."