A newly discovered dinosaur was truly enormous, it’s weight has been estimated to about 59 tons and with a length of 26 meters, it was a dreadnought walking the earth 77 million years ago.

What makes the size of this specimen even more spectacular is that the researchers believe that this dinosaur was actually not fully grown.

The new species has suitably been named “Dreadnoughtus schrani” and was found by an international team of researchers at an excavation site in Argentina.

It was a sauropod, a type of dinosaur known as giant herbivores with a long neck. It lived in temperate forests in what is now South America during the Upper Cretaceous period, 77 million years ago.

Dreadnoughtus schrani is the best-preserved sauropod ever discovered with a total of 116 bones found, with a total of around 250 bones. The Futalognkosaurus dukei was regarded as the most well-preserved previously with only 39 bones found.

Because the skeleton of Dreadnoughtus schrani is so complete, the researchers could perform detailed calculations of the size and weight. They found that it weighed 59.3 tons and was 26 meters long (85 feet) and that it was not fully grown at the time of its death. With detailed studies of the bone structure, they estimate an adult individual to have weighed around 65 tons.

The researchers scanned the remains of Dreadnoughtus schrani with 3D technology so that the skeleton could be assembled and studied in a virtual computer environment. This will enable other researchers to access the skeleton and make studies of its anatomy and development.

The new findings published has been published in Nature.

Hit this link to view a video by Drexel University.

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A Gigantic, Exceptionally Complete Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from Southern Patagonia, Argentina

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