A fossil skeleton of one of the largest -- possible the largest -- creature ever to walk the earth has been discovered, a dinosaur appropriately dubbed Dreadnoughtnus for "fears nothing."
Inhabiting the Earth around 77 million years ago, the creature was 85 feet long, possible weighing as much as much as 65 tons, paleontologists say.
The exceptionally complete skeleton of the dinosaur was unearthed in southern Patagonia in Argentina.
"Dreadnoughtus schrani was astoundingly huge," says Drexel University's Kenneth Lacovara, who first found the fossil and led the team excavating and analyzing it.
And evidence suggests the giant specimen wasn't even full-grown when it died, Lacovara and his researcher colleagues report in the journal Scientific Reports.
"It weighed as much as a dozen African elephants or more than seven T. rex," he says. "It is by far the best example we have of any of the most giant creatures to ever walk the planet."
Little has been known about the largest of Earth's dinosaurs because fossils found to date have been for the most part very incomplete, the researchers say.
However, the Dreadnoughtus skeleton is 70 percent complete, compared to the 25 percent or less other similar finds before.
The long-necked, four-legged dinosaur was a herbivore, and its massive size suggests it may have spent most of its existence in a constant search for food, a "life-long obsession with eating," Lacovara says.
"Every day is about taking in enough calories to nourish this house-sized body."
Most public fascination with dinosaurs is centered on giant carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex, but Lacovara says Dreadnoughtus -- one of a group of giant plant-eaters dubbed titanosaurs -- would have been as impressive as any meat-eater.
"I think the big herbivores don't get their due for being" intimidating, he says, explaining why he chose a fearsome monicker for the creature.
Dreadnaughts was a term given to the first giant, heavily armored battleships of the 20th century which were, at least for a few years, impervious to any attack.
"I thought that Dreadnoughtus would be a good name for these dinosaurs, which does two things: It means 'fears nothing,' and this dinosaur would have had nothing to fear," Lacovara says. "It also connotes something big like a battleship."
The discover is yielding unprecedented insights into the anatomy and the biomechanics of the largest created ever to trod dry land on Earth, the researchers say.
