In Argentina, the remains of a gigantic dinosaur have been discovered. According to experts, if their assumptions are correct, the creature could stand to the toe with the most recognizable species that has ever walked the planet.
(Image: Nobu Tamura via Wikimedia Commons)
Reenacting the subjective life of Argentinosaurus huinculensis, a late Cretaceous titanosaur of Argentina
The bones, or remnants of it, were found in the Neuquen Region in northwestern Patagonia. It has been identified as a species from the sauropod dinosaur family. Sauropods are famous for their amazingly long neck and tails, gigantic legs, and of course, their sheer size. The dinosaurs from this family are known to be the largest earth creature that ever lived on Earth.
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References
Unfortunately, the fossil remains are not found in mint conditions. The skeletal collection was not even large enough to be considered a complete skeleton. It is usually made up of pelvic bones and vertebrae. Fortunately, the samples were large enough to identify the creature’s large size.
A professional from the journal Cretaceous Research suggests that the animal may have come from an unknown group of Patagonian sauropod.
What remains is very similar to the remains of Andesaurus. Andesauruses are a “giant titanosaur” that is said to have been in the middle of the Cretaceous. These creatures grew up to 18 meters or 59 feet long.
After a series of studies and experiments, the fossil bone fragment shows that the remains belonged to something more important than the Andesaurus. If these results were accurate in measuring the size of prehistoric animals, the remains may have belonged to the best known terrestrial animals, the Patagotitan or the Argentinosaurus. Both are sauropods.
It seems that the bones may have belonged to something even bigger because, according to the magazine’s publication, this is one of the heaviest sauropods ever discovered. Because of the uncertainty of the extinct species, many paleontologists are quick to accept that the Argentine fossil may have belonged to a completely new species.
“New sample”
The so-called “new sample” may have exceeded the size of the Patagotitan.
Despite the size difference, it is still not easy to rule out the possibility that the remains come from Patagotitan as the creatures have only recently been discovered, meaning that little is still known about the sauropod species.
The remnants of a sauropod have never been easy to identify and distinguish; according to one of the researchers, “The record of large – sized titanosaur sauropods has traditionally been very fragmented, although recent discoveries of more complete support have revealed important anatomical information that was not previously available due to retention biases. “
Consistency
“The sample reported here strongly suggests the consistency of the largest and medium-sized titanosaurs with small-sized rebbachisaurids (a family of sauropod dinosaurs) at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous in the Neuquén Region, revealing a putative niche separation . “
Although much about the fossil was still unclear, paleontologists considered the discovery to be a memorable achievement. The location, the position of the bones, gave them all about what they found insight into the life of sauropods.
The number of sauropod fossils from different species found in close proximity meant that several giants lived and lived together.
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