Cidersomerset
17th May 2014, 09:22
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17 May 2014 Last updated at 01:50
'Biggest dinosaur ever' discoveredBy James Morgan
Science reporter, BBC News
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74905000/jpg/_74905253_9l0a5935.jpg
Fossilised bones of a dinosaur believed to be the largest creature ever to walk the
Earth have been unearthed in Argentina, palaeontologists say.
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.
pU7-GjZND40
Dr Diego Pol explains how the weight of the dinosaur was calculated
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".
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74905000/jpg/_74905247_9l0a5919.jpg
Site
A film crew from the BBC Natural History Unit was there to capture the moment the
scientists realised exactly how big their discovery was.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."
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74905000/jpg/_74905252_e4460505-argentinosaurus_dinosaur-spl.jpg
Sauropod The new dinosaur is a type of sauropod similar to Argentinosaurus,
illustrated here 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.
Measuring
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".
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74905000/jpg/_74905250_9l0a5931.jpg
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."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27441156
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It could be Freds 'Dino Dozzer'...LOL
WAfR7bR0Np4
17 May 2014 Last updated at 01:50
'Biggest dinosaur ever' discoveredBy James Morgan
Science reporter, BBC News
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74905000/jpg/_74905253_9l0a5935.jpg
Fossilised bones of a dinosaur believed to be the largest creature ever to walk the
Earth have been unearthed in Argentina, palaeontologists say.
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.
pU7-GjZND40
Dr Diego Pol explains how the weight of the dinosaur was calculated
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".
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74905000/jpg/_74905247_9l0a5919.jpg
Site
A film crew from the BBC Natural History Unit was there to capture the moment the
scientists realised exactly how big their discovery was.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."
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74905000/jpg/_74905252_e4460505-argentinosaurus_dinosaur-spl.jpg
Sauropod The new dinosaur is a type of sauropod similar to Argentinosaurus,
illustrated here 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.
Measuring
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".
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74905000/jpg/_74905250_9l0a5931.jpg
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."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27441156
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It could be Freds 'Dino Dozzer'...LOL
WAfR7bR0Np4