Imagine a pack of twelve African elephants. Or a Boeing 737 Well, this is the size of the largest animal that has ever lived throughout history. He has just been named to Dreadnoughtus schrani literally, he who does not fear nothing-and lived about 77 million years ago in Patagonia in Argentina, where their gigantic remains were unearthed in several campaigns between 2005 and 2009. Now, after years of reconstruction of more than 100 types of bones located, the dinosaur has unveiled its true dimensions: it was a giant sauropod 26 meters long with a weight of 59 tons. And the most fascinating thing is that the team of Argentine-American paleoanthropologists who has studied the animal was still believed in the growth phase. When he died he had not yet finished growing.
"It was amazingly huge. It weighed like a dozen or more African elephants seven Tyranonosaurus rex "explains Kenneth Lacovara, professor at Drexel University (Philadelphia) and one member of the group that participated in the study and the finding of the animal. Paleoanthropologists have released their research in the journal Scientific Reports, the Nature group.
Over a hundred bones
More than its astonishing size, the most interesting finding is the integrity of the skeleton, which is unprecedented in the giant sauropods. Were 100 bone fragments recovered from the 142 that could have had, which is equivalent to 70% of their anatomy. Before the appearance of this issue the most complete known giant titanosaur was Futalognkosaurus dukei, of which only 26.8% of the parts of the skeleton were found. "Dreadnoughtus offers us an unprecedented view of the anatomy and biomechanics of the largest animals that have ever walked on the earth," notes Lacovara.
The more than one hundred skeletal elements recovered include most of the vertebrae of the tail, 8.7 meters long, a neck with a diameter of over one meter, the scapula, numerous ribs, toes, claw , a small section of the jaw and a single tooth. But most important to calculate the mass of the animal was the finding of all the bones of the front and hind limbs, including a femur over 1.91 meters and a humerus.
The specimen belongs to a large group of herbivores known as titanosaurs, which, given its size, to survive was to eat massive amounts of plants. "Every day explains Kenneth Lacovara- was consuming enough calories to nourish your body, the size of a house. I imagine his day was largely standing in one place. "
However, perhaps the titanosaur found in Patagonia is not the largest land animal that ever lived. In the same area as the Argentinosaurus other species, which are probably still larger were found. But the fossil remains of these specimens are still insufficient to allow a reconstruction that reveal their true dimensions. So far the Dreadnoughtus holds the record.
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