Say hello to Dreadnoughtus
schrani, a newly discovered dinosaur that was so formidable, it was named
after a battleship that
prowled the seas during the early 20th century.
"It is by far the best
example we have of any of the most giant creatures to ever walk the
planet," Dr. Kenneth Lacovara, a paleontologist at Drexel University's
College of Arts and Sciences and the scientist who discovered the skeleton,
said in a written statement. "With a body the size of a house, the weight
of a herd of elephants, and a weaponized tail, Dreadnoughtus
would have feared nothing."
The titanosaur's skeleton,
which dates back 77 million years, was discovered in Southern Patagonia in
Argentina, and unearthed over the course of four digs between 2005 and 2009.
Rendering of the
massive Dreadnoughtus schrani.
At 85 feet long and
weighing 65 tons, Dreadnoughtus sets a new record as the land animal with the
greatest calculable weight. (The record was previously held by Elaltitan, who
weighed 47 tons.) That means that as an herbivore, Dreadnoughtus would have had
to consume copious amounts of plant matter every day to become so
"astoundingly huge," according to Lacovara.
"Imagine a life-long
obsession with eating," he said, "Every day is about taking in enough
calories to nourish this house-sized body."
Dreadnoughtus schrani
was substantially more massive than any other supermassive dinosaur for which
mass can be accurately calculated.
The skeleton is also the
most complete of its kind, comprising 43.5 percent of the dinosaur's bones. It
contains nearly all bones from the forelimbs and hind limbs, most of the tail
vertebrae and numerous ribs.
Lacovara and his colleagues
have digitally scanned the dinosaur's bones and constructed a "virtual
mount" of the skeleton. The scientists hope their research on
Dreadnoughtus will shed new light on the anatomy of supermassive dinosaurs, and
how they walked and grew.
Dr. Kenneth Lacovara
with the 30-foot tail of Dreadnoughtus schrani, stretching along the length of
the wall and around the corner in his lab.
The research was published
online today in the journal Scientific Reports.
No comments:
Post a Comment