The area where fossils of a dinosaur – likely to be the largest ever to roam the earth – were found in Chubut, some 1,300 kilometres south of Buenos Aires. Museo Egidio Feruglio / AFP
The area where fossils of a dinosaur – likely to be the largest ever to roam the earth – were found in Chubut, some 1,300 kilometres south of Buenos Aires. Museo Egidio Feruglio / AFP
The area where fossils of a dinosaur – likely to be the largest ever to roam the earth – were found in Chubut, some 1,300 kilometres south of Buenos Aires. Museo Egidio Feruglio / AFP
The area where fossils of a dinosaur – likely to be the largest ever to roam the earth – were found in Chubut, some 1,300 kilometres south of Buenos Aires. Museo Egidio Feruglio / AFP

Editorial

The ultimate dinosaur

Unlocking the secrets of why the Titanosaur grew so much bigger than anything found now will be a goal for researchers.

National Editorial

May 18, 2014

  • English
  • Arabic

Just about every aspect of the newly discovered Titanosaur fossil is mind boggling: the biggest dinosaur ever was 40 metres long and weighed 100 tonnes. More remarkable still, researchers excavating a site in Patagonia, southern Argentina, have found seven well-preserved specimens, including juveniles.

Equally interesting are the questions that the discovery prompts. Why did the creatures of the Cretaceous Period 90 million years ago grow so much bigger than anything found today? The biggest animal now is the blue whale, which only reaches three-quarters of the length of the Titanosaur. This new discovery is estimated to have weighed 14 times the biggest land animal found now, the African elephant.

The climate of Patagonia was warm and temperate, with distinct wet and dry seasons. But none of the places with equivalent climates today – including western Europe, east Asia, Patagonian Chile, the eastern seaboard of Australia and New Zealand – has seen the evolution of such mega­fauna. Finding out why the Titanosaurus grew so large will answer many questions, not the least of which would be: could mega-animals ever be bred again?

Argentina