In May 2014, a huge dinosaur skeleton with a long neck (sauropod) was discovered in Chubut, Argentina. At first glance the scientific community knew that they were facing a "titan", but many questions roamed around the environment.
Titan at the Museum of New York
It was possible that the bones belonged to another giant Argentine dinosaur called Argentinosaurus, a colossus that undeniably held the record of size until that moment.
The Argentinosaurus was also a long-necked dinosaur from which isolated bones have been recovered, so there is no complete image and both its size and its weight are approximate. It is estimated that it could weigh between 60 and 80 tonnes; and have a length of between 30 and 40 metres. As you can see the margin of error is very wide, and although it is indisputable that the size of Argentinosaurus is outstanding, the exact size is impossible to know with the current fossil record.
However, the new Titanosaur skeleton, which still has no name, does contain enough bones to give us an idea of its size and we know that it was around 75 tonnes in weight and 40 metres in length. Figures that rival seriously with those of Argentinosaurus.
Femur of the Titanosaur next to a paleontologist
The size of this nameless Titanosaur is so surprising that it sharpened the ingenuity of those responsible for the Museum of Natural History in New York. They had to remove the neck of the dinosaur through the door that gives access to the showroom since there was no other way to house the skeleton inside the museum.
Argentina gave rise to huge dinosaurs during the Cretaceous. Now we know that in that period, besides the Argentinosaurus, another long-necked dinosaur lived in Argentina and great predators like the Giganotosaurus appeared on the scene, possibly as hunters of those great beasts. In the image above on the right, represented in blue, uncovered titanosaur.
This nameless Titanosaur has been fighting to hold the record of the largest dinosaur in history for 4 years now, and it seems that he is about to achieve it. We will wait to see if the Argentinosaurus and its bones have the last word. For now, as it is norm in paleontology and in this blog, we have to wait.
Possible aspect of the Titanosaur
Germán Z. López
This post can also be read in Spanish at our partner blog Made in Pangea.
- BBC News.
- Diario La Nación.
- Diario La Gaceta.
- Diario El País.