Philosophy
by
James Morgan
May 16th, 2014
BBC News
Based on its huge thigh bones, it was 40m (130ft) long and 20m (65ft) tall.
Weighing in at 77 tonnes, it was as heavy as 14 African elephants, and seven tonnes heavier than the previous record holder, Argentinosaurus.
Scientists believe it is a new species of titanosaur - an enormous herbivore dating from the Late Cretaceous period.
A local farm worker first stumbled on the remains in the desert near La Flecha, about 250km (135 miles) west of Trelew, Patagonia.
The fossils were then excavated by a team of palaeontologists from the Museum of Palaeontology Egidio Feruglio, led by Dr Jose Luis Carballido and Dr Diego Pol.
They unearthed the partial skeletons of seven individuals - about 150 bones in total - all in "remarkable condition".
By measuring the length and circumference of the largest femur (thigh bone), they calculated the animal weighed 77 tonnes.
"Given the size of these bones, which surpass any of the previously known giant animals, the new dinosaur is the largest animal known that walked on Earth," the researchers told BBC News.
"Its length, from its head to the tip of its tail, was 40m.
"Standing with its neck up, it was about 20m high - equal to a seven-storey building."
This giant herbivore lived in the forests of Patagonia between 95 and 100 million years ago, based on the age of the rocks in which its bones were found.
But despite its magnitude, it does not yet have a name.
"It will be named describing its magnificence and in honour to both the region and the farm owners who alerted us about the discovery," the researchers said.
There have been many previous contenders for the title "world's biggest dinosaur".
The most recent pretender to the throne was Argentinosaurus, a similar type of sauropod, also discovered in Patagonia.
Originally thought to weigh in at 100 tonnes, it was later revised down to about 70 tonnes - just under the 77 tonnes that this new sauropod is thought to have weighed.
The picture is muddied by the various complicated methods for estimating size and weight, based on skeletons that are usually incomplete.
Argentinosaurus was estimated from only a few bones. But the researchers here had dozens to work with, making them more confident that they really have found "the big one".
Dr Paul Barrett, a dinosaur expert from London's Natural History Museum, agreed the new species is "a genuinely big critter. But there are a number of similarly sized big sauropod thigh bones out there," he cautioned.
"Without knowing more about this current find it's difficult to be sure. One problem with assessing the weight of both Argentinosaurus and this new discovery is that they're both based on very fragmentary specimens - no complete skeleton is known, which means the animal's proportions and overall shape are conjectural.
"Moreover, several different methods exist for calculating dinosaur weight (some based on overall volume, some on various limb bone measurements) and these don't always agree with each other, with large measures of uncertainty.
"So it's interesting to hear another really huge sauropod has been discovered, but ideally we'd need much more material of these supersized animals to determine just how big they really got."
- A Myth Maker
"Prehistoric Fossil May Have Inspired Greek Myths" The thigh bone of a huge extinct mammal may have helped inspired a beast or two in classical mythology. by Rossella Lorenzi March 31st, 2011 DISCOVERY NEWS The bone of a large extinct creature, once...
- William Buckland...kirkdale/paviland Caves And "red Lady Of Paviland"
William Buckland March 12th, 1784 to August 14th, 1856 William Buckland has the distinct honors of being the first professor of geology in England [Oxford, 1818] and the discoverer of the first dinosaur bones [Megalosaurus bucklandii]. Wikipedia... ...at...
- Raptorex--t. Rex Precursor And How Science Works
This is a fine example how some areas of science are subject to change. Science is an evolving disciple of knowledge. "Fossil Find Challenges Theories on T. Rex" by Henry Fountain September 18th, 2009 New York Times Paleontologists said Thursday that...
- Bambiraptor Purloined For Bucks
This is not good, but not new. Remember Sue the T. Rex? Sue Hendrickson, amateur paleontologist, discovered the most complete (more than 90%) and, until 2001, the largest, Tyrannosaurus fossil skeleton known in the Hell Creek Formation near Faith, South...
- Good Science Among Paleontologists
This is a healthy approach to a recently discovered find regarding 65+ million year old dinosaur tissue. "Scientists question dinosaur soft tissue find" by Maggie Fox July 29th, 2008 Reuters Soft tissue taken from preserved dinosaur bones may not be...
Philosophy
The really, really big dinosaur
"'Biggest dinosaur ever' discovered"
by
James Morgan
May 16th, 2014
BBC News
Based on its huge thigh bones, it was 40m (130ft) long and 20m (65ft) tall.
Weighing in at 77 tonnes, it was as heavy as 14 African elephants, and seven tonnes heavier than the previous record holder, Argentinosaurus.
Scientists believe it is a new species of titanosaur - an enormous herbivore dating from the Late Cretaceous period.
A local farm worker first stumbled on the remains in the desert near La Flecha, about 250km (135 miles) west of Trelew, Patagonia.
The fossils were then excavated by a team of palaeontologists from the Museum of Palaeontology Egidio Feruglio, led by Dr Jose Luis Carballido and Dr Diego Pol.
They unearthed the partial skeletons of seven individuals - about 150 bones in total - all in "remarkable condition".
By measuring the length and circumference of the largest femur (thigh bone), they calculated the animal weighed 77 tonnes.
"Given the size of these bones, which surpass any of the previously known giant animals, the new dinosaur is the largest animal known that walked on Earth," the researchers told BBC News.
"Its length, from its head to the tip of its tail, was 40m.
"Standing with its neck up, it was about 20m high - equal to a seven-storey building."
This giant herbivore lived in the forests of Patagonia between 95 and 100 million years ago, based on the age of the rocks in which its bones were found.
But despite its magnitude, it does not yet have a name.
"It will be named describing its magnificence and in honour to both the region and the farm owners who alerted us about the discovery," the researchers said.
There have been many previous contenders for the title "world's biggest dinosaur".
The most recent pretender to the throne was Argentinosaurus, a similar type of sauropod, also discovered in Patagonia.
Originally thought to weigh in at 100 tonnes, it was later revised down to about 70 tonnes - just under the 77 tonnes that this new sauropod is thought to have weighed.
The picture is muddied by the various complicated methods for estimating size and weight, based on skeletons that are usually incomplete.
Argentinosaurus was estimated from only a few bones. But the researchers here had dozens to work with, making them more confident that they really have found "the big one".
Dr Paul Barrett, a dinosaur expert from London's Natural History Museum, agreed the new species is "a genuinely big critter. But there are a number of similarly sized big sauropod thigh bones out there," he cautioned.
"Without knowing more about this current find it's difficult to be sure. One problem with assessing the weight of both Argentinosaurus and this new discovery is that they're both based on very fragmentary specimens - no complete skeleton is known, which means the animal's proportions and overall shape are conjectural.
"Moreover, several different methods exist for calculating dinosaur weight (some based on overall volume, some on various limb bone measurements) and these don't always agree with each other, with large measures of uncertainty.
"So it's interesting to hear another really huge sauropod has been discovered, but ideally we'd need much more material of these supersized animals to determine just how big they really got."
- A Myth Maker
"Prehistoric Fossil May Have Inspired Greek Myths" The thigh bone of a huge extinct mammal may have helped inspired a beast or two in classical mythology. by Rossella Lorenzi March 31st, 2011 DISCOVERY NEWS The bone of a large extinct creature, once...
- William Buckland...kirkdale/paviland Caves And "red Lady Of Paviland"
William Buckland March 12th, 1784 to August 14th, 1856 William Buckland has the distinct honors of being the first professor of geology in England [Oxford, 1818] and the discoverer of the first dinosaur bones [Megalosaurus bucklandii]. Wikipedia... ...at...
- Raptorex--t. Rex Precursor And How Science Works
This is a fine example how some areas of science are subject to change. Science is an evolving disciple of knowledge. "Fossil Find Challenges Theories on T. Rex" by Henry Fountain September 18th, 2009 New York Times Paleontologists said Thursday that...
- Bambiraptor Purloined For Bucks
This is not good, but not new. Remember Sue the T. Rex? Sue Hendrickson, amateur paleontologist, discovered the most complete (more than 90%) and, until 2001, the largest, Tyrannosaurus fossil skeleton known in the Hell Creek Formation near Faith, South...
- Good Science Among Paleontologists
This is a healthy approach to a recently discovered find regarding 65+ million year old dinosaur tissue. "Scientists question dinosaur soft tissue find" by Maggie Fox July 29th, 2008 Reuters Soft tissue taken from preserved dinosaur bones may not be...