Last year , scientists described a dinosaur that was a bit of a whacker , to say the least . Weighing in at an estimated 60 metric ton , the colossal titanosaurDreadnoughtusthreatened to exact the extremely sought after claim of world ’s most massive dinosaur . While unquestionably tremendous , anew analysisof the animate being ’s bone evoke that scientists may actually have importantly over - guess its free weight . In fact , if the dinosaur sit at the lower end of its count on chain , it may only have been half as massive as previously thought . The field of study has been publish on June 10 in the journalBiology letter .
As the name suggests , titanosaurs were pretty darn huge dinosaurs . In fact , this group of gargantuansauropods – the herbivores with the incredibly farsighted necks – admit several species that are considered to be the biggest country animals expose so far . Argentinosaurus , for example , is the current record holder for both the most massive and the long terrestrial creature ever to have ramble the satellite .
But then the “ fears nothing”Dreadnoughtus schranicame stomping onto the scene last yr . light upon in Patagonia , Argentina , this Upper Cretaceous specimen ( count on to have lived between 84 and 66 million yr ago ) was in signally upright flesh , offering bone from all major skeletal regions . With70%of the skeleton below the skull available for psychoanalysis , Dreadnoughtusrepresented one of the most , if notthemost , thoroughgoing gargantuan titanosaur discover yet .
Aside from being an awesome breakthrough , such a well - keep collection of os gave scientist the chance to reliably forecast its distance , which came in at a staggering 26 meters ( 85 feet ) . But since it was n’t quite fully mature when it died , it could perhaps have grown to be even swelled . After measuring the beast ’s pegleg ivory , the same team was also able to forecast its great deal , which plough out to be a rather sizable 60 t . But after scientistsrevealedthat some other sauropod , which were only just overshadowed byDreadnoughtusin terms of organic structure sizing , did n’t press nearly as much as this , a team of researchers , head by the University of Liverpool , decide to take another flavour at its bones .
This time , rather than using a scaling equality based on leg osseous tissue dimensions , the researchers adopted a 3D skeletal modeling technique to first redo the animate being ’s skin volume . They then extend or shrink this shape to report for other diffuse tissue , like muscle and fat , using information gleaned from other modern - solar day species , such as birds and crocodile . Finally , once again using datum from extant relatives , they estimated the denseness of the animate being ’s tissues .
Although this proficiency produced a range of possible weights , none of these even add up nigh to the highest earlier estimation of 60 tonnes . The belittled figure was just 28 tonne , and the largest was 38 , suggest that only the modest estimates from the previous study were reasonable . But Ken Lacovara , direct author of the original study , was quick to hold his squad ’s piece of work , pointing out toNational GeographicthatDreadnoughtusis in fact not the most complete sauropod skeleton in the closet and thus there are perhaps better specimens out there for this form of analysis .
This may be the case , but present subject field author Karl Bates from the University of Liverpoolhighlightsthe fact that restore an extinct animal ’s size and form is extremely difficult and relies on the extrapolation of information from living coinage . No method is therefore right or improper : all that scientists can do is give an idea free-base on the good useable data .
[ ViaUniversity of Liverpool , Biology Letters , ScienceandNational Geographic ]
