Discovered in the fall of 1997, during a four-month expedition to the Sahara desert led by paleontologist Dr. Paul Sereno, it was found in a mass-death site in the Tiourarén Formation of Niger.

[1] The sediments in which it was found were originally thought to represent the Hauterivian to Barremian stages of the early Cretaceous Period, dating Jobaria to approximately 132 million years ago.

[1] However, re-interpretation of the sediments showed that they are more likely from the Bathonian to Oxfordian stages of the middle Jurassic in age, between 167 and 161 million years ago.

It may also have been able to rear up on its hind legs as Paul Sereno concluded, after comparing the ratios of humerus and femur circumferences in Jobaria to extant elephants.

[9] Shunosaurus Barapasaurus Patagosaurus Omeisaurus Mamenchisaurus Cetiosaurus Jobaria Haplocanthosaurus Limaysaurus Nigersaurus Amargasaurus Dicraeosaurus Apatosaurus Brontosaurus Barosaurus Diplodocus Camarasaurus Brachiosaurus Phuwiangosaurus Malawisaurus Rapetosaurus Isisaurus Opisthocoelicaudia Saltasaurus