Here is Mr. Dreadnoughtus: a very, very big boy

September 6, 2014

Dinosaurs were the most gigantic species to have graced earth by their presence millions of years ago. Scientists have recently discovered the remains of one of the biggest of these species. The animal lived during the upper Cretaceous period which is roughly 77 million years ago. He has been named, ‘Dreadnoughtus’ as it was felt that such as huge animal could not fear anything which is why the name Dreadnoughtus came along. He was as heavy as 14 elephants and about 25 meters long.
Dinosaur study is often jeopardized due to lack of reported and found fossils at one place. Their remains being so big were often seen lying here and there and complete discovery was a rare feat.
Dreadnoughtus excavators were lucky as they were able to discover 70% of the Dreadnoughtus’ bones including a part of the jaw, from the snow-clad terrain of Antarctica region. Scientists who normally have to find, collect, match and then record the information collected from different sources have to make estimates based on a single bone,were now open to take this discovery to a new level.
The Titanosaurs are the group of giant dinosaurs known varied in weight from that of a cow to that of largest sperm whale. It was always quite perplexing the way studies are done on these huge species due to the incomplete fossils. The discovery of Dreadnoughtus is thus going to bring about newer insights into the study of other Titanosaurs who shared the same era as Dreadnoughtus. Another, astonishing fact was that despite the hugeness associated the experts have suggested that the Dreadnoughtus was not fully grown and was still in the growing stages. It thus makes it hard to imagine the size and weight of the full-grown one and also what and how much food they might have needed to support themselves.

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