Werner Janensch

Who was Werner Janensch?

Werner Ernst Martin Janensch was a German paleontologist and geologist. Janensch's most famous contributions stemmed from the expedition he led with Edwin Hennig to the Tendaguru Beds in what is now Tanzania. They recovered an enormous quantity of fossils of late Jurassic period dinosaurs, including several complete Brachiosaurus skeletons, then the largest animal ever known. Janensch discovered and named several new dinosaur taxa including Dicraeosaurus and Elaphrosaurus. Janensch's Brachiosaurus finds may belong to a distinct, related genus, Giraffatitan, but this is controversial.

A native of Herzberg, Werner Janensh was also curator of the Natural History Museum of Berlin. He died in Berlin in 1969.