When you speak the word “titanosaur,” you can’t help but think big. Or rather, supermassive. A Drexel team made a discovery of epic proportions (literally) when it unearthed a new supermassive dinosaur species with the most complete skeleton ever found of its type. At 85 feet (26 m) long and weighing about 65 tons (59,300 kg) in life, Dreadnoughtus schrani is the largest land animal for which a body mass can be accurately calculated.
Dreadnoughtus schrani was “astoundingly huge,” says Kenneth Lacovara, an associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, who discovered the fossil skeleton in southern Patagonia in Argentina and led the excavation and analysis. “It weighed as much as a dozen African elephants or more than seven T. rex.”
In September, Lacovara and colleagues published the detailed description of their discovery in the journal Scientific Reports from the Nature Publishing Group.
Because all previously discovered supermassive dinosaurs are known only from relatively fragmentary remains, Dreadnoughtus offers an unprecedented window into the anatomy and biomechanics of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth.
And get this: The specimen Lacovara and his team discovered was not yet full grown. But before you go lumping this new dinosaur in with the carnivorous bullies like T. rex, know this: Dreadnoughtus was a plant eater.
In the winter/ spring issue of Drexel Magazine this January, look for an in-depth look into the discovery of Dreadnoughtus, including how this titanosaur the size of a house got its name.