A new contender has emerged in the “biggest dinosaur” debate.
A massive, mostly complete skeleton of a Dreadnoughtus was recently unearthed in southern Patagonia, Argentina. Scientists are thrilled by the discovery, which, as NBC News explains, includes an incredible “45 percent of the skeleton's full complement of bones, representing 70 percent of the bone types found below the skull.”
Dreadnoughtus is among the largest known titanosaurs. Researchers explain that Titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs were the most diverse and abundant large-bodied herbivores in the southern continents during the last 30 million years of the Mesozoic Era. And several titanosaur species are considered the largest land animals discovered so far. But, it’s difficult to confirm this assumption because nearly all of these titanosaurs have incomplete fossils. That’s why researchers are so excited about the recent Dreadnoughtus specimen, which now represents the most complete giant titanosaur discovered so far.
Scientists estimate that the colossal Dreadnoughtus schrani measured roughly 85 feet long, 30 feet tall, and weighed approximately 65 tons. And, based on the animal’s bones, researchers surmise that this particular dinosaur was still growing.
So does this make Dreadnoughtus the world's biggest dinosaur? NBC News science journalist Alan Boyle explains, “Asking that question is a good way to start an argument.” He continues, “Some researchers say they've come across fossils from bigger dinosaurs, with Argentinosaurus' weight estimated at 70 to 90 tons. In May, a different team of paleontologists reported finding bones from a dinosaur that they claimed was bigger than Argentinosaurus.”
But Drexel University paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara, the lead author of a paper detailing the Dreadnoughtus findings, says those other estimates are based on a “mere smattering of bones, or on analyses that haven't yet been subjected to peer review.”
"I can say that we have the largest land animal that we can confidently affix a number to," says Lacovara. "I cannot confidently say that we have the largest land animal."
Lacovara and his team made laser scans of all the Dreadnoughtus fossils to create digital 3D representations of the animal’s skeletal structure. By doing this, scientists can create and manipulate bones and muscles in a digital environment to figure out how this supermassive creature moved.
The team is also using these 3D scans to create a one-tenth-scale model of the skeleton using 3D printers. And, dino-geeks will be happy to learn that the team is making these 3D scans available to the public for free on the Internet in the form of PDF files. "I'm excited about this because it's part of the open-access movement that is really democratizing science," says Lacovara.
The paper detailing the discovery, titled “A Gigantic, Exceptionally Complete Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from Southern Patagonia, Argentina,” is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Photo: Drexel University
