From the Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631309/Scientists-largest-dinosaurs-Titanosaur-fossil.html
Move over T-rex, see
you later Stegosaurus, adios Argentinosaurus. Scientists have announced
that the bones of a new, even larger dinosaur have been found.
Argentinosaurus
currently holds the record for being both the heaviest land animal
ever, and the longest, but the fossilized bones of the biggest dinosaur
ever discovered have been found in Argentina.
Scientists believe the species of titanosaur weighed in at 170,000 pounds, as heavy as 14 African elephants.
A local farm worker found the remains which were captured by the BBC's Natural History unit.
Scroll down for video
+23
The Thigh bones' connected to the...: A
technician next to the femur of a dinosaur -- likely to be the largest
ever to roam the earth
+23
Boner: One of the paleontologists lies next to the femur of sauropod
+23
What it was like: The newly identified South
American dinosaur uses its whip-like tail to fend off predators in this
2014 illustration
+23
Discovery: Paleontologists Jose Luis Carballido
(L) and Ruben Cuneo pose next to the bones of a dinosaur at a farm in La
Flecha, west of the Argentina's Patagonian city of Trelew
+23
Quite the find: According to paleontologists
from the renowned Egidio Feruglio Museum, Jose Luis Carballido and Ruben
Cuneo, the fossils are that of a sauropod and preliminary tests dates
the fossils at some 90 million years old
How it compaares: Size comparison between Argentinosaurus (shown in purple) and a human
+23
Huge discovery: The fossilized bones of the biggest dinosaur ever discovered have been found in Argentina
+23
Tremendous: Its gigantic bones were found by a
local farm worker in a desert in Patagonia, the southern Argentine
region that has yielded many important dinosaur discoveries
+23
Garguantuan: Its calculated 77-ton weight would
have made it as heavy as 14 African elephants, beating the previous
record holder, Argentinosaurus, by some seven tons
The fossils were then excavated by a
team of palaeontologists from the Museum of Palaeontology Egidio
Feruglio, led by Dr Jose Luis Carballido and Dr Diego Pol.
They unearthed the partial skeletons of seven individuals - about 150 bones in total - all in 'remarkable condition'.
According to the measurements of its gigantic thigh bones, the herbivore would have been 40m (130ft) long and 20m (65ft) tall.
Palaeontologists think it is a
new species of titanosaur – part of a diverse group of sauropod
dinosaurs that were characterised by their long necks and tails and
small heads – dating from the Cretaceous period.
The mega dino would have weighed in at 77 tons, making it seven tons heavier than the previous record holder Argentinosaurus.
The creature, which lived in the forests of Patagonia between 95 and 100 million years ago, was yet to be named.
“It
will be named describing its magnificence and in honour to both the
region and the farm owners who alerted us about the discovery,” the
researchers said.
+23
Residents and technicians gather around the
bones of a dinosaur at a farm. They say it is the largest set of remains
of a dinosaur ever found to date
+23
Vast: The palaeontologists say the find is
thought to be a new species of titanosaur ¿ a huge herbivore of the
long-necked sauropod group that lived in the Late Cretaceous period
+23
Stupendous: The bones were initially discovered a
year ago in the desert near La Flecha, about 135 miles west of the
Patagonian town of Trelew
+23
Dusty work: The fossils were then excavated by a
team of palaeontologists from the Museum of Palaeontology Egidio
Feruglio, led by Dr Jose Luis Carballido and Dr Diego Pol (pictured
left)
+23
Colossal: Scientists believe the species of titanosaur weighed in at 170,000 pounds, as heavy as 14 African elephants
Long nect: Paleontologists in Argentina's remote
Patagonia region have discovered fossils of a creature is believed to
be a new species of Titanosaur, a long-necked, long-tailed sauropod that
walked on four legs and lived some 95 million years ago in the
Cretaceous Period
The discovery came in the same week scientists confirmed the Argentinosaurus to be the biggest of them all.
That
plant-eating dinosaur weighed a earth-shaking 90 tons when it lived
about 90 million years ago in Argentina, although the record has been
broken by this new find.
Oxford
University palaeontologist Dr Roger Benson, who led the study, says the
dinosaur weigh-in included species ranging from small bird-like
dinosaurs to well-known carnivores such as the Tyrannosaurus rex.
The
Tyrannosaurus rex, which weighed 7 tons, was the largest meat-eating
dinosaur in the study, but it is small in comparison to the
Argentinosaurus.
+23
Immense: The museum has retrieved some 150 bones said to come from seven individuals, all in remarkable condition
+23
Massive: Given the size of these bones, which
surpass any of the previously known giant animals, the new dinosaur is
the largest animal known to have walked on Earth
A sparrow-sized bird
called Qiliania, which lived about 120 million years ago in China,
earned the distinction of being the smallest dinosaur, weighing a mere
15 grams.
Dr Benson said
Argentinosaurus, which roamed around South America, was about 6 million
times the weight of Qiliania and that both still fit within the dinosaur
family. 'That seems amazing to me,' he said.
The
largest meat-eating dinosaur was Tyrannosaurus rex, which weighed 7
tons and is also the largest known land predator of all time.
The
T. rex edged out another super predator that some scientists had once
figured was bigger based on the length of its skull, Giganotosaurus,
which lived alongside Argentinosaurus in ancient South America.
The study estimated Giganotosaurus at about 6 tons, pretty darned big, but just a bit shy of dethroning T. rex.
