Which Dinosaur Was the Biggest?

How big was the biggest dinosaur?

Previously, three different species had claim to the biggest dinosaur. The Supersaurus vivianae was the longest at 111 feet. The Sauroposeidon proteles was the tallest at 55 feet, and the Argentinosaurus was the heaviest at 60 tons. A recently discovered dinosaur beats all of these records and holds the title for all three categories!

This dinosaur, the Patagotitan mayorum, was discovered by a farmer in Argentina when he stumbled upon the fossils in 2014. After excavating and studying the fossils of seven individuals, the paleontologists published their results this summer.

They estimated that the Patagotitan weighed between 65-77 tons. That’s heavier than a Boeing 737 airplane and about as much as 12 African elephants. It also beats the height and length records, standing 65 feet tall and over 120 feet from head to tail. One of the fossils found, a femur, was eight feet long, which is taller than a man!

The fossils found for the Patagotitan are more complete than any other titanosaur, a group of massive dinosaurs. This allowed the palaeontologists to make more accurate predictions about the size of the dinosaur.

Fun fact: The Patagotitan was an herbivore and possibly ate up to 2,000 pounds of food daily because it was so large!

Source: columbiatribune.com