Sunday, May 18, 2014

The "largest dinosaur ever discovered" in Argentina.


Measuring the femur is a good pattern to estimate its size.

The fossils were found near the Patagonia Argentina.


It is believed that this  is a new version of Argentinosaurus, shown in this photo.

A group of paleontologists announced the discovery on Argentine soil of the "largest creature ever to walk the Earth." 

It is estimated that this gigantic dinosaur was about 40 meters long and 20 high, based on the length of the huge bones of his lower extremities, specifically the femur.

Weighing 77 tons, it is believed that it was as heavy as 14 African elephants. 

It is also seven tons heavier than the previous record holder, the Argentinosaurus. 

Scientists believe it is a new species of titanosaur, huge herbivores that lived during the Late Cretaceous, ie, the era of prehistory that corresponds to the last days of the dinosaurs. 

A local farmer was first stumbled upon the remains in the desert near the Arrow, an Argentina city located about 250 km west of Trelew, Patagonia. 

The fossils were excavated by a team of paleontologists from the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio, led by José Luis Carballido doctors and Diego Pol.

The excavation work partial skeletons of seven specimens , about 150 bones in total, all in "special condition" were unearthed.

A film crew from the Natural History Unit of the BBC was there to capture the moment when the scientists realized accurately the true extent of the discovery.

77 tons
By measuring the length and circumference of the femur , it is estimated that the animal weighed 77 tons .
"Given the size of these bones , which exceed any of the previously known giant animals , the new dinosaur is the largest animal known to walk the Earth," assured the BBC Argentine paleontologists.

" Its length , from the head to the tip of the tail, was 40 meters. Standing with the neck up , which was about 20 meters are talking about the equivalent of a seven-story building ."

This giant herbivore lived in the forests of Patagonia 95-100 million years ago , based on the age of the rocks in which the bones were found.

But despite its size, has no name yet.

"It will be named based on their magnificence and honor to the region and farm owners who alerted us to the discovery," the researchers said.

There have been many previous contenders for the " World's Largest Dinosaur" .

The latest pretender to the throne was the Argentinosaurus , a similar specimen of the family of sauropods , also found in Patagonia.

Originally thought that weighed 100 tons , but later was estimated at 70 , a little less than 77 tons weighed believed this new sauropod .

The estimate is imprecise due to various complicated methods to calculate the size and weight, based on skeletons are usually incomplete.

The weight and size of Argentinosaurus is estimated from a few bones . But this time , tens Argentine researchers have in his possession, which makes them feel more confident in ensuring that found " the greatest" .

Paul Barrett, a dinosaur expert at the Natural History Museum of London, agrees that the new species is " a really big bug. But have found in the past big sauropod bones of legs ," he said .

" Without knowing more about this recent discovery, it is hard to be sure . A problem when evaluating the weight of both the Argentinosaurus as this new discovery is that both are based on very fragmented samples. 

Yet a complete skeleton is known , it makes the proportions of the animal and are generally only conjecture.

"Moreover , there are several different methods to calculate the weight of the dinosaurs ( some based on the overall volume , several other bone measurements ) and these methods do not always agree with each other , which creates some uncertainty.

"However , it's interesting to hear that he has discovered another huge sauropod, but ideally we would need much more material of these large animals to determine how big they really were ."








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