Finding: This was the largest dinosaur to walk on the face of the earth – Ideal Digital

Recently, a striking cut scientific discovery has revolutionized the world of paleontology. Apparently, a prestigious international team of scientists has discovered a new species of dinosaur, Dreadnoughtus schrani. According to the researchers described the animal measured 26 meters long and weighed around 59,300 pounds.

A team of paleontologists has presented Thursday at a scientific journal a giant dinosaur that lived 77 million ago years in Patagonia Argentina, whose skeleton is the “most complete” that has been found so far. This new dinosaur, the disclosure releases ‘Scientific Reports’ belonging to the family of titanosaurs, some herbivores, many dinosaurs in the Cretaceous, the region in which this fossil found in 2005, the province of Santa Cruz (south the country). The Argentina Patagonia is where the biggest dinosaurs lived on Earth. Scientists estimate that the animal, which had a very long neck, measuring about 26 meters long and weighed 60 tons. In addition, its skeleton shows that when he died had not yet finished growing.

During four seasons of excavations between 2005 and 2009, paleontologists were able to find over 70% of the skeleton, excluding bones head, or more than 45% of the entire skeleton. According to researchers, it is much more than in other titanosaurs previously discovered.

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Scientists also have almost all the bones of the upper and lower limbs, including a femur of 1.80 meters and a humerus. This allows to describe in detail the animal and calculate reliably impressive measures.

Kenneth Lacovara of Drexel University American (Philadelphia), led the team that studied the fossil. Its main contributors were Matthew C. Lamanna, another American, Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pittsburgh), and Lucio M. Ibiricu, the Patagonian National Centre in Argentina’s Chubut province (south).

Dinosaur Dreadnoughtus schrani was baptized as ‘dreadnought’ means “does not afraid of anything” in Old English. “With a body the size of a house, the weight of a herd of elephants and a tail as a weapon, Dreadnoughtus not owe anything to fear,” said Lacovara. The word ‘dreadnought’ is also used to designate a type of battleship developed early last century. The term ‘schrani Honors Adam Schran the employer, who provided support to investigations.

“The biggest titanosaurs have remained a mystery because, in almost all cases, their fossils are very incomplete” He stressed his part Lamanna. Argentinosaurus mass, for example, was comparable or even superior to that of Dreadnoughtus but are few bones. “It’s by far the best example we have of all the giant animals that ever walked the planet,” said Lacovara. For their study, the fossil Dreadnoughtus was transferred to the United States to be analyzed in Drexel University and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

The Drexel University said in a statement that the fossil, which belongs to the Argentine federal government and must remain in the province of Santa Cruz, where it was discovered, it must be returned to Father Molina Jesus Museum in Rio Gallegos in 2015.