Fossils from one of the largest dinosaurs to ever walk the Earth — the 77-million-year-old, 65-ton Dreadnoughtus (meaning “fear nothing”) schrani — were discovered and unearthed in Southern Patagonia, Argentina, between 2005 and 2009. It’s a relatively intact set of over 100 pieces, the most complete skeleton of a herbivorous sauropod yet found.
“To put this in perspective, an African elephant is about five tons, T. rex is eight tons, Diplodocus is 18 tons, and a Boeing 737 is around 50 tons,” said study author and paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara at Drexel University. “And then you have Dreadnoughtus at 65 tons.”
Yes, it’s way bigger than both T-Rex and Siats Meekerorum, and would have had to eat constantly to sustain such a large body.
“I imagine their day consists largely of standing in one place,” Lacovara said. “You have this 37-foot-long neck balanced by a 30-foot-long tail in the back. Without moving your legs, you have access to a giant feeding envelope of trees and fern leaves. You spend an hour or so clearing out this patch that has thousands of calories in it, and then you take three steps over to the right and spend the next hour clearing out that patch.”
Bonus fact: this specimen wasn’t even fully grown yet. Incredible. Read more about this discovery at drexe.lu/dreadnoughtus.
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