The team of researchers from Naturales y Museo, Universidad de Zaragoza, and Universidad Nacional del Comahue has uncovered evidence suggesting that the dinosaur remains discovered in 2012 in rgentina may have belonged to the largest animal to ever inhabit the planet.
A promotional image published by the CTyS-UNLaM Science Outreach Agency on January 20, 2021, depicting a palaeontologist excavating the Candeleros Formation in the Neuquen River Valley, Argentina, where 98 million-year-old fossils were discovered.
The group discusses the fossilized remains discovered to date and what they disclose in their article published in the journal Cretaceous Research.
It is believed that the blue whale, the largest of which can attain a length of 33,6 meters, is the largest animal ever.
It is believed that dinosaurs were the largest land creatures, with тιтanosaurs (as their name suggests) being the largest.
Rgentinosaurus is the largest dinosaur for which sufficient evidence exists to classify it as the heaviest; at approximately 36.5 meters in length and 100 tons in weight, it would have outweighed modern land animals by a significant margin.
Argentinosaurus huinculensis reconstruction at Museo Municipal Carmen Funes, Plaza Huincul, Neuquén, Argentina. William Irvin Sellers, Lee Margetts, Rodolfo nbal Coria, and Phillip Lars Manning are credited in PLoS ONE (2013).
Researchers investigating Patagoтιтan fossils (another тιтanosaur discovered in Patagonia) have hypothesized that some of them may have broken the size record, but there is insufficient fossil evidence to confirm this.
In either case, researchers scrutinizing the new remains have begun to suspect the discovery of an even larger тιтanosaur.
The dinosaur lived 98 million years ago, putting it between the Late Jurᴀssic and early Cretaceous.
The fossils discovered include 24 vertebrae and pelvic and pectoral girdles from a mᴀssive tail.
Each specimen’s colossal size suggests that the dinosaur was a тιтanosaur of immense size, potentially even larger than Argentinosaurus. This claim cannot be verified until the discovery of limb bones. The measurements of the animals will allow scientists to estimate their bodily mᴀss.
тιтanosaurs were sauropods, which meant that they were herbivorous herbivores with mᴀssive bodies, long necks, and long tails.
If these dinosaurs had reached their maximum dimensions, they would have confronted few dangers from meat-eating opponents.
Except for Antarctica, their fossils have been discovered on every continent. In their conclusion, the researchers state that additional excavation in the region will likely unearth additional fossils of the same dinosaur and possibly evidence of its actual dimensions.
