The discovery of a new species in Patagonia, ‘Dreadnoughtus schrani’ is an exceptional value because the skeleton is very complete and will better understand the anatomy and biomechanics of large sauropods
José Andrés Pichel / DICYT It measured 26 meters long and weighed 60 tons, was herbivorous and lived about 77 million years ago in the forests of the present province of Santa Cruz, Patagonia in Argentina . Scientists at Drexel University in the United States, along with Argentine scientists unearthed along four digs his gigantic skeleton, exceptionally well-preserved, and because of their sheer size they called Dreadnoughtus , meaning “not afraid of anything.” The magazine Scientific Report s , the group Nature , now gives the description of an exemplary family of titanosaurs that will serve to better understand the Anatomy and biomechanics of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth.
“This is the most complete giant dinosaur discovered. Dreadnoughtus is not the greatest of all, but the most complete among the giants, “says Fernando Novas DiCYT, head of the Laboratory of Comparative Anatomy of the Academy of Natural Sciences” Bernardino Rivadavia “and Researcher Home of CONICET, which has been part of this research. It states that the finding is particularly valuable in that it comprises more than 70% of the bone, while the remainder of the giant dinosaurs known from very fragmentary remains.
With this material, scientists claim that this is the sauropod that can make an accurate calculation of body mass about largest land animal. In quadrupeds, the key is in the measurements of the extremities, particularly the femur and humerus and this finding includes these two bones, so that researchers can make a very precise estimate of its weight. In addition, the fossil collection includes stunning pieces, as a vertebra over a meter in diameter.
The result of the calculation indicates that as many as a dozen African elephants or like seven Tyrannosaurus rex even though when he died was not yet fully developed, according to Kenneth Lacovara, an American researcher who led the excavation and subsequent studies of the Dreadnoughtus schrani , full name in honor of Adam Schran, American businessman who supported the research.
This was dug between 2005 and 2009 and analyzed in later years by a team that also included the Argentine researcher Manuel Lucio Ibiricu, the Patagonian National Centre in Chubut; Matthew Lamanna of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History; and Jason Poole, of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, and numerous students and alumni of American University and other collaborators. Along with this great specimen, was discovered another smaller and less complete skeleton.
Therefore, the Dreadnoughtus is represented by more than one hundred bones from two different individuals. This increases the understanding of the anatomy of these animals, so may I ask how were their vertebrae, the shape of your legs and hips. “This helps the paleontologist to clarify the relationships among titanosaurs and generate hypotheses regarding adaptations developed to support body weight, allowing them to walk and stand up on its hind to reach the treetops legs,” says Fernando Novas.
Why grow so
“For us, the main question that is generated with these as recurrent findings in Patagonia, is why dinosaurs grew so large. Nobody today has an answer to this riddle, pending since the first dinosaurs were described for the first time in 1824, “said Fernando Novas, which is one of the most renowned paleontologists from Argentina, responsible for the discovery of several species of dinosaur from Patagonia as many dinosaurs was baptized with the names of Talenkauen , Orkoraptor and Puertasaurus and decisive this time, “Kenneth told us his interest in carrying explorations in the area and that’s how we partner to conduct a scientific study of the Dreadnoughthus . “
“Our contribution has been to provide data on the anatomy of other giant dinosaurs that we ourselves had discovered and studied, as well as exchange ideas and interpretations of the new discovery,” says researcher CONICET.
Deep Burial
Investigators believe died of some natural cause or an environmental disaster and were buried in sediments very quickly, although probably other scavengers dinosaurs came to take advantage of their remains, as have been found theropod teeth. Probably a great flood caused the ground was unstable and burial of the two copies was fast and deep, which would explain the extraordinary integrity of the skeleton.
The group of titanosaurs is diverse and includes species that are just the size of a cow and other huge, but the latter has very little information. For example, Argentinosaurus is comparable to the finding of this species and probably more, but there is no reliable method to calculate its mass, since all the pieces found are highly fragmented.
In Argentina 3D for everyone
The law states that Argentina fossils are government property and must remain in the province in which they were found. Although currently at Drexel University for study, will be returned in permanent deposit at Museo Padre Molina, in the city of Rio Gallegos in 2015.
However, they will be available to researchers in a very different way, as the team Lacovara has digitally scanned each piece and made a digital 3D reconstruction that will be available to the experts and the general public. “Fidelity is perfect and the bones do not break down over time, so the digital modeling is the future, especially for the study of giant dinosaurs,” he says. And thanks to this technology can better understand the structure and functions of the different parts of the anatomy of sauropod.
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 | bibliographic reference |
| Kenneth J. Lacovara, Matthew C. Lamanna, M. Lucio Ibiricu, Jason C. Poole, Elena R. Schroeter, Paul V. Ullmann, Kristyn K. Voegele, Zachary M. Boles, Aja M. Carter, Emma K . Fowler, Victoria M. Egerton, Alison E. Moyer, Christopher L. Coughenour, Jason P. Schein, Jerald D. Harris, Ruben D. Martinez & amp; Fernando E. Novas. A Gigantic, Exceptionally CompleteTitanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur fromSouthern Patagonia, Argentina . Scientific Reports, 2014 DOI: 10.1038 / srep06196
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