Fossils found in southern Argentina are believed to represent the most complete remains of what could be the biggest dinosaur to have roamed the earth.
American scientists are calling it Dreadnoughtus – after the huge battleships of more than a century ago.
They estimate it measured 26 metres from head to tail and weighed approximately 65 tonnes.
The word big does not do justice to a massive, long-necked dinosaur that shook the earth in Argentina about 77 million years ago.
Try colossal, enormous, gargantuan and stupendous – and you might come close to an accurate description of this behemoth, known to scientists as Dreadnoughtus schrani.
Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery in southern Patagonia of remarkably complete and well-preserved fossil remains of the dinosaur, which weighed 65 tonnes and measured 26 metres with a neck 11.3 metres and a tail 8.7 metres.
Palaeontologist Kenneth Lacovara of Drexel University in Philadelphia, who discovered the dinosaur and led the effort for its excavation and analysis, said the scientists calculated its weight on the basis of the bones in its upper arm and thigh.
Dreadnoughtus weighed more than an adult sperm whale or a herd of African elephants. Tipping the scales at seven times as much as the dinosaur T. rex, it made the North American menace that also lived during the Cretaceous period look puny.
This dino was apparently vegetarian. I dread to think (no pun intended) how much it would have needed to eat a day in order to maintain its size.
