The largest dinosaur on earth title. The heaviest dinosaur - The heaviest land (land) animal in the world - Dinosaurs
Probably every person on earth knows that some dinosaurs were just huge! The most "giant giants" were, of course, saurapods. They had a huge neck, a hefty tail that served as a counterweight and a small (relative to the whole body) head.
Amphicelia (Amphicoelias fragillimus) is the largest dinosaur that ever existed.
Largest sauropod dinosaurs:
- Argentynozaur (Argentinosaurus) (30-33m, 70-80 tons)
- Zauroposejdon (Sauroposeidon) (34 m, 50 t)
- Seismosaurus (Seismosaurus) (33 m, 27 t)
- Superzaur (Supersaurus) (33-34 m, 35-40 thousand tons)
All of these dinosaurs have names that are easy enough to remember.
Excavations that have been going on for more than a hundred years make it possible to establish a more accurate shape and structure of the body of these ancient animals.
Sauropods - the largest dinosaur
Long-necked sauropod is the largest animal not only among representatives ancient world but also living before and after it. Only the sauropod was larger than the blue whale, which reaches a length of 34 meters and weighs 190 tons.
Some sauropods, or rather some representatives of this species, recently discovered (for example, Seismosaurus (Seismosaurus), which means "earth-shaking lizard" or Argentynozaur (Argentinosaurus)) can be significantly larger than the long-necked (40 - 50 meters in length), but they weighed no more than 100 tons.
Argentinosaurus - one of the largest dinosaurs - 33 m in length and weighing 70-80 tons It's all about the void. Rather, in the cavities of the bones of these dinosaurs. The largest skeleton with hollow bones ever discovered belonged to the diplodocus dinosaur (from the Latin diplodocus - ". Double-beamed"). It is 30 meters long. And then there is Brachiosaurus (Brachiosaurus brancai) - the skeleton of this creature is exhibited in a museum in Berlin. It is almost 27 meters long and 13 meters high.
But the skeleton of Brachiosaurus found in Tanzania is most striking. This is the most complete sauropod dinosaur skeleton in existence today.
Cavities in the bones significantly reduced weight!
The largest herbivorous lizards had voids in their bones. Especially in the spine. This allowed them to significantly reduce their weight. For example: Camarasaurus, and began to be called because of the hollow bones (lizard-cavities). But, even in the presence of voids, the weight of this lizard was more than that of three elephants. The shoulders of this animal were about 2 meters wide. But this was quite enough to withstand an incredibly large neck.
The shoulders of the ultrazaura, which lived at the same time as the kamarazur, are slightly larger - about 2.7 meters. This is also a representative of sauropods, a herbivorous lizard that lived around the world about 200 million years ago
Brachiosaurus (Brachiosaurus)
The same huge representative of dinosaurs. It is also from sauropods, up to 27 meters long and 13 meters high. Weight - up to 80 tons, which is the approximate mass of 10 adult elephants.
The family dlugoszyich diplodocoids was interesting view sauropods - Amficelias (Amphicoelias) - "double-concave". One of its species - Amphicoelias fragillimus - can also claim the title of the largest and heaviest dinosaur.
Diplodocus (skeleton) - one of the largest dinosaurs In 1978, a fragment of the skeleton of this lizard was found, evaluating which, paleontologists came to the conclusion that the weight of the owner could be 100-150 tons, and the length could be up to 60 meters. It was not possible to make more accurate calculations due to isolated fragments preserved.
Bruhatkajozaur (Bruhathkayosaurus matleyi)
These dinosaurs are called "heavy carcass lizards". But, unfortunately, there is not a single complete skeleton of this dinosaur. According to the disparate parts that scientists have at their disposal, it can be argued that the weight of these lizards was 70-130 tons, the body length was 26-34 meters. Growth - about 12 meters.
Puertazaur (Puertasaurus)
Puertazaur (Puertasaurus) is a huge pangolin, a representative of sauropods, described as recently as 2005. His remains were discovered in 2001 in Argentina. The lizard was named after one of the explorers, Pablo Puerto.
The discovered vertebra had gigantic dimensions - 1.06! meters. Such bones could belong to a super-huge dinosaur. He was most likely very slow due to his size. Moreover, it was a herbivorous lizard with a chest 7 meters wide, 38 meters long and weighing 110 tons.
In addition to the vague types that dinosaurs are: amficelias and bruhatkajozaur, puertazaur would be the largest known dinosaur.
Alamozaur (Alamosaurus)
Sauropod of the titanosaurid group (Titanosauria). Its name comes from the Ojo Alamo, a mountain range in New Mexico, USA, where it was first found. It means "-Lizard of the Alamo".
Alamozaur is an inhabitant of the late Cretaceous(71-65 million years ago). Its range was in North America. It was the last sauropod on our earth. Initially, it was believed that the Alamosaurus was somewhat smaller - up to 21 meters long and weighing no more than 35 tons. However, in 2011, lizard vertebrae were discovered, whose dimensions were more impressive. Paleontologists have come to the conclusion that the previously discovered remains most likely belonged to "adolescents" of alamosaurs. In 2011, the remains of an adult dinosaur were found, whose weight could reach 100 tons, length - 37 meters.
And here's what: » The largest and smallest dinosaurs. And then you can get confused in this topic. It is desirable to consider sauropods and theropods (carnosaurs) separately. Well, if someone else interesting gets caught) "
Let's understand this issue of the long, long history of our mother Earth.
And the task is not an easy one! First, how to evaluate the largest dinosaur? By height? By weight? By lenght? And how many reservations that this or that species is not particularly proven. And by the way, many open dinosaurs have almost the same estimated size. Well, let me offer several versions on this topic, and then you decide for yourself who can be considered the largest or smallest.
"Terrible lizard" - this is how the word "Dinosaur" is translated from ancient Greek. These terrestrial vertebrates inhabited the Earth during the Mesozoic era for over 160 million years. The first dinosaurs appeared in the late Triassic period(251 million years ago - 199 million years ago), about 230 million years ago, and their extinction began at the end of the Cretaceous period (145 million years ago - 65 million years ago), about 65 million years ago.
Dinosaur remains found back in 1877 in Colorado are still considered to be the bones of the largest dinosaur, Amphicelia. Amphicelia(lat. Amphicoelias from the Greek amphi"both sides" and coelos"empty, concave") - genus herbivorous dinosaurs from the sauropod group.
Paleontologist Edward Cope, who back in 1878 published an article on amphicelia, made his conclusions on a single fragment of a vertebra (destroyed shortly after cleaning and not preserved to this day - only a drawing has survived), so the size and even the very existence of this dinosaur is in doubt. If Amphicelias is nevertheless described correctly, then its length, according to calculations, was from 40 to 62 meters, and weight - up to 155 tons . Then it looks like not only the most large dinosaur for the entire time of their existence, but also the largest of the known animals. Amphicelias is almost twice as long blue whale and 10 meters longer than the seismosaurus, which is in second place. Then the maximum size mark of the animals will be at the level of Amphicelias - 62 m in length. However, assumptions have been made about the existence of more massive dinosaurs (for example, Bruhatkayosaurus, which lived in the Cretaceous period.
Bruhathkayosaurus (lat. Bruhathkayosaurus) is one of the largest sauropods. According to different versions weighed 180 or 220 tons (according to other hypotheses - 240 tons) . Apparently, bruhatkayosaurus is the heaviest animal ever lived (in second place is a 200-ton blue whale, on the third - 155-ton amphicelias). The genus includes the only species found in southern India (Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu). Age - about 70 million years (Cretaceous period). There is no single estimate of the length of this dinosaur; different scientists determine its length from 28-34 meters to 40-44 meters.
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Don't be in a hurry to believe the speculation just yet. Due to the meager amount of bones, this has not yet been proven. Only guesses of scientists and a wide range of estimates. We will wait for new excavations - after all, we rely only on facts. And if you rely only on the facts, then this is what they say.
Although paleontologists claim they have found a larger saurus, the size of Argentinosaurus is backed up by compelling evidence. Just one Argentinosaurus vertebra is over four feet thick! It had a length of the hind limbs of about 4.5 m, and a length from shoulder to hip. 7 m. If we add to the results obtained the length of the neck and tail, corresponding to the proportions of previously known titanosaurs, then the total length of the Argentinosaurus will be 30 m. However, this does not make it the longest dinosaur. The longest seismosaurus is considered, the length of which from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail is estimated at 40 m, and the mass is from 40 to 80 tons, but, according to all calculations, the Argentinosaurus is the heaviest. Its weight could reach 100 tons!
In addition, the Argentinosaurus is undoubtedly. the largest pangolin, about which good paleontological material has been collected. This giant was dug up in 1980 by two paleontologists, Rodolfo Coria and José Bonaparte from the Museum of Natural History in Buenos Aires. According to these researchers, Argentinosaurus belongs to the titanosaurs (a suborder of sauropods of the order of lizard dinosaurs), which were widespread in the south of the American continent in the Cretaceous period.
Argentinosaurus bone
Comparing the found bones with the already known remains of sauropods, scientists calculated that the unearthed monster had a hind limb length of about 4.5 m, and a length from shoulder to hip. 7 m. If we add to the results obtained the length of the neck and tail, corresponding to the proportions of previously known titanosaurs, then the total length of the Argentinosaurus will be 30 m. This is not the most long dinosaur(The longest is the seismosaurus, the length of which from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail is estimated at 40 m, and the mass is from 40 to 80 tons), but, according to all calculations, the heaviest. Its weight could reach 100 tons.
Sauroposeidon ( Sauroposeidon ) is named after Poseidon - Greek god ocean. In size, it competed with Argentinosaurus, and possibly could surpass it, however, its weight was much less, according to paleontologists, it weighed no more than 65 tons, while Argentinosaurus could weigh up to one hundred tons. But, Sauroposeidon could be the tallest dinosaur that ever roamed the earth, and what is there the tallest creature on the planet in general! Its height could reach almost 18-20 meters
His physique indicated that he had to consume about a ton of vegetation daily, an almost endless work. To accomplish this "feat", the dinosaur had 52 chisel-like teeth that cut down plants in one fell swoop. He didn't even bother chewing his food, swallowing delicious vegetation, which immediately fell into a 1-ton stomach, the size of a swimming pool. Then his gastric juice, which had incredible strength and could dissolve even iron, did all the rest of the work. The dinosaur also ingested rocks that helped it digest fiber.
It's good that dinosaur worked so well digestive system, because with a lifespan of 100 years (one of the longest in the kingdom of dinosaurs) and in the absence of such a metabolism, he would have grown old very quickly.
We all discussed the so-called sauropods (sauropods), but which of the predators is the largest dinosaur?
You probably thought that Tyrannosaurus rex would be in this category. However, it is now believed that Spinosaurus was the largest predatory dinosaur. Its mouth was similar to the mouth of a crocodile, and the outgrowth on its back resembled a huge sail. The sail made this theropod look even more majestic. Leathery "sail" reached a height of 2 meters. The predator itself was over 17 meters long and weighed 4 tons. He moved on his hind limbs like other theropods. It could be over 20 feet tall. Read more about dinosaur
Spinosaurus had a leathery "sail" stretched over the spinous processes of the vertebrae, reaching a height of 2 meters. The predator itself was over 17 meters long and weighed 4 tons. He moved on his hind limbs like other theropods.
Spinosaurus hunted alone, lying in wait for the prey. In doing so, he relied on his gigantic size and the strength of the jaws, elongated, like a pliosaurus, and armed with sharp conical teeth. This predator fed mainly on large fish, but it could well attack even a sauropod dinosaur of its size. Sinking its teeth into the neck of the sauropod, the spinosaurus bit the throat, which led to the rapid death of the victim. He could also attack crocodiles, pterosaurs and freshwater sharks.
In the middle of the day, Spinosaurus could turn its back to the sun. In this position, the "sail" was turned edge to direct sunlight and did not absorb heat, so Spinosaurus, which, like all reptiles, was cold-blooded, avoided the risk of overheating. If he suddenly became too hot, then he could dive into the nearest lake or river and dip his "sail" in the water to cool it. In the early morning, even in the warm climate of the Cretaceous period, the temperature was probably not as high as in the afternoon. It is possible that at dawn the Spinosaurus was even chilly. Then he could stand so that the sun's rays fell on the "sail" plane, as shown in the illustration. There is another theory, according to which it is believed that the "sail" during the mating season could serve as a means of attracting females.
Apparently, Spinosaurus was one of the most ferocious predators late Cretaceous period. The length of its body from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail was about 15m - more than the length of a modern bus. In the illustration you see a row of spines on the spine, the longest of which reached 1.8 m. These spines served as the basis for the "sail" of Spinosaurus. The longest spikes were located in the center; each spike in the middle was thinner than at the top end. The massive body of the spinosaurus was supported by two powerful columnar legs, and the feet ended in three sharp claws. In addition, each foot had an additional weak toe. The huge claws on the feet of the Spinosaurus could be useful to him in order to keep the victim trying to escape. The upper limbs of Spinosaurus were short, but also very strong. The skull structure of Spinosaurus was similar to that of other carnivorous dinosaurs; his characteristic feature were straight teeth, sharp as meat knives, which could easily pierce even the thickest skin. The tail of the spinosaurus was long, wide and very strong. Scientists suggest that in some cases, Spinosaurus could knock down prey by delivering a series of powerful blows with its tail.
Here are some other predators that could be mentioned that could compete with the largest dinosaur. And this is again not a Tyrannosaurus rex :-)
Tarbosaurus (Tarbosaurus), a genus of extinct giant predatory dinosaurs(superfamily carnosaurs). Large land predators - the body length is usually over 10 m, the height in a bipedal position is about 3.5 m. The skull is huge (more than 1 m), massive, powerful dagger-shaped teeth, designed to attack very large animals (mainly herbivorous dinosaurs). The forelimbs of T. are reduced and had only 2 full fingers each, the hind limbs are highly developed, forming, together with a powerful tail, a support tripod for the body. T. skeletons have been found in the Upper Cretaceous deposits of the South Gobi (MPR).
Lit .: Maleev E. A., Giant carnosaurs of the family Tyrannosauridae, in the book: Fauna and biostratigraphy of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic of Mongolia, M., 1974, p. 132-91
The Asian Tarbosaurus (Tarbosaurus bataar) was a close relative of the North American carnivorous dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous. Tarbosaurus is a lizard-robber. From the tip of the muzzle to the tip of the tail - about ten meters. The largest of them has more than 14 m in length and 6 m in height. Head size - more than a meter in length. The teeth were sharp, dagger-shaped. All this allowed the Tarbosaurus to cope even with those opponents whose body was protected by bone armor.
With his height and appearance, he strongly looked like tyrannosaurs. It also walked on strong hind limbs, using its tail for balance. The forelimbs were greatly reduced, two-fingered, and apparently served only for holding food.
Among the first dinosaur finds in England was a fragment of the lower jaw with several teeth. Apparently, it belonged to a huge predatory lizard, which was later christened and
megalosaurus (giant lizard). Since no other parts of the body could be found, it was impossible to form an accurate idea of the shape of the body and the size of the animal. It was believed that the lizard moved on four legs. Since then, many other fossil remains have been unearthed, but a complete skeleton has never been discovered. Only after making a comparison with other predatory dinosaurs (carnosaurs), the researchers came to the conclusion that the megalosaurus also ran on its hind legs, its length reached 9 meters and it weighed a ton. With greater accuracy, it was possible to reconstruct the Allosaurus (another lizard). Over 60 of his skeletons have been found in America. different sizes. The largest allosaurs reached a length of 11-12 meters, and weighed from 1 to 2 tons. Their prey, of course, were gigantic herbivorous dinosaurs, which is confirmed by the found piece of the Apatosaurus tail with deep bite marks and knocked out Allosaurus teeth.
Even larger, in all likelihood, were two species that lived 80 million years later in the Cretaceous, namely: a tyrannosaurus (tyrannical lizard) from North America and a tarbosaurus (terrifying lizard) from Mongolia. Although the skeletons are not completely preserved (most often the tail is missing), it is assumed that their length reached 14-15 meters, the height was 6 meters, and the body weight reached 5-6 tons. The heads were also impressive: the skull of the tarbosaurus was 1.45 meters long, and the largest skull of a tyrannosaurus was 1.37 meters. The dagger-shaped teeth, protruding 15 cm, were so powerful that they could hold an actively resisting animal. But it is still unknown whether these giants could really pursue prey or were too massive for this. Perhaps they fed on carrion or the remains of prey more than small predators, which they did not have to work hard to drive away. The dinosaur's forelimbs were remarkably short and weak, with only two fingers each. And a huge finger with a claw 80 cm long was found in a tercinosaurus (crescent lizard). But it is not known whether this finger was the only one and what sizes the whole animal reached. The 12-meter spinosaurus (spiny lizard) also had an impressive appearance. Along his back, his skin was stretched in the form of a sail 1.8 meters high. Perhaps this served him to scare away rivals and competitors, or maybe it served as a heat exchanger between the body and the environment.
Who was the giant "terrible hand"? Until now, we are not able to imagine what a giant predatory dinosaur looked like, from which, during excavations in Mongolia, only the bones of the fore and hind limbs have been found so far, unfortunately. But the length of the forelimbs alone was two and a half meters, that is, approximately equal to the length of the entire Deinonychus, or four times the length of its forelimbs. Each hand had three huge claws, with which it was possible to stab and tear even very big booty. Amazed by this find, Polish researchers gave this dinosaur the name Deinocheirus, which means "terrible hand."
If we take for comparison the dimensions of an ostrich dinosaur, which has a similar structure of the forelimbs, but is four times smaller in length, then we can assume that Deinocheirus was one and a half times the size of a tyrannosaurus rex! Dinosaur lovers and researchers around the world are looking forward to new bone finds and the solution to the mystery of the giant "terrible hand".
Tarbosaurus, whose remains were found in the southern part of the Gobi Desert, are large predatory dinosaurs. The total length of their body reached 10, and the height - 3.5 meters. They hunted large herbivorous dinosaurs. Tarbosaurs were distinguished by the impressive size of the skull - in adults it exceeded 1 meter.
According to experts, the dinosaur whose skull the detainee wanted to sell lived on our planet 50-60 million years ago.
Every year, Mongolian paleontologists and international expeditions find more and more remains of tarbosaurs in the South Gobi.
Since the early 1990s, such unique exhibits have been actively falling into private hands. According to information law enforcement Mongolia, illegally operates a network of smugglers engaged in such a trade. Behind last years Customs officers and police stopped several attempts to export fossilized remains of eggs and parts of dinosaur skeletons abroad.
So, which of the record holders do we have in the rank of marine Dinosaurs?
The crown of weight and size in the family of pliosaurs belongs precisely to Lioplervodon. It had four powerful flippers (up to 3 m long) and a short, laterally compressed tail. The teeth are huge, up to 30 cm long (perhaps up to 47 cm!), round in cross section. It reached a length of 15 to 18 meters. The length of these reptiles reached 15 meters. Liopleurodons fed on large fish, ammonites, and also attacked others. marine reptiles. They were the dominant predators of the Late Jurassic seas. Read more about dinosaur
Described by G. Savage in 1873 based on a single tooth from the Late Jurassic layers of the Boulogne-sur-Mer region (Northern France). The skeleton was found in late XIX century in Peterborough, England. At one time, the genus Liopleurodon was combined with the genus Pliosaurus (Pliosaurus). Liopleurodon is distinguished by a shorter mandibular symphysis and fewer teeth than Pliosaurus. Both genera form the family Pliosauridae.
Liopleurodon ferox is the type species. The total length reached 25 meters. The length of the skull is 4 meters. Lived in the waters of northern Europe (England, France) and South America (Mexico). Liopleurodon pachydeirus (Callovian of Europe), distinguished by the shape of the cervical vertebrae. Liopleurodon rossicus (aka Pliosaurus rossicus). Described on the basis of an almost complete skull from the Late Jurassic (Titonic era) of the Volga region. The length of the skull is about 1 - 1.2 m. A fragment of the rostrum of a giant pliosaurus from the same deposits may belong to the same species. In this case, the Russian Liopleurodon was not inferior to European species. The remains are on display at the Paleontological Museum in Moscow. Liopleurodon macromerus (aka Pliosaurus macromerus, Stretosaurus macromerus). Kimmeridge - Titonius of Europe and South America. Very large view, the length of the skull reached 3 meters, the total length should be from 15 to 20 meters.
Liopleurodon was a typical pliosaurus - with a large narrow head (at least 1/4 - 1/5 of the total length), four powerful flippers (up to 3 m long) and a short, laterally compressed tail. The teeth are huge, up to 30 cm long (perhaps up to 47 cm!), round in cross section. At the tips of the jaws, the teeth form a kind of "rose". The external nostrils did not serve for breathing - when swimming, water entered the internal nostrils (located in front of the external ones) and exited through the external nostrils. The flow of water passed through Jacobson's organ and thus the Liopleurodon "sniffed" the water. This creature breathed through its mouth when it surfaced. Liopleurodons could dive deep and for a long time. They swam with the help of huge flippers, which flapped their wings like birds. Liopleurodons had good protection - under the skin they had strong bone plates. Like all pliosaurs, liopleurodons were viviparous.
In 2003, remains of the species Liopleurodon ferox were discovered in Late Jurassic marine sediments in Mexico. It reached a length of 15 to 18 meters. It was a young one. On its bones were found marks from the teeth of another Liopleurodon. Based on these injuries, the attacker could have been over 20 meters long, as his teeth were 7 cm in diameter and over 40 cm long. In 2007, the remains of very large pliosaurs of an unknown species were discovered in Jurassic deposits polar archipelago of Svalbard. The length of these reptiles reached 15 meters. Liopleurodons fed on large fish, ammonites, and also attacked other marine reptiles. They were the dominant predators of the Late Jurassic seas.
Well, with the largest ones, probably everything, choose which one you like best for the pedestal :-) And now about the smallest ones ...
In 2008, scientists discovered the skull of one of the smallest dinosaurs that lived on Earth. This find may help in the search for an answer to the question of why some of the dinosaurs once became herbivores.
The skull, less than 2 inches (about 5 centimeters) long, belonged to a Heterodontosaurus baby that lived about 190 million years ago and was 6 inches (15.24 centimeters) high and 18 inches (nearly 46 centimeters) from the head. to the tip of the tail.
But to a greater extent, it was not the size of the animal that intrigued scientists, but its teeth. The opinions of experts about whether the heterodontosaurus ate meat or plants were divided. The mini dinosaur, which, according to The Telegraph, is comparable to a mobile phone, has both front fangs and typical herbivore teeth for grinding plant food. There was an assumption that adult males had fangs, which used them to fight competitors for territory, but the presence of them in a cub disproved this theory. Most likely, such fangs were required for protection from predators.
Now the scientists who discovered the animal have a theory that Heterodontosaurus was in the process of evolutionary transition from carnivore to herbivore. It was probably an omnivore, feeding mainly on plants, but diversifying its diet with insects, small mammals, or reptiles.
Laura Porro, Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (USA), suggested that all dinosaurs were originally carnivorous: “Because Heterodontosaurus is one of the earliest plant-adapted dinosaurs, it may represent a phase of transition from carnivorous ancestors to fully herbivorous descendants. Its skull indicates that all dinosaurs of this species survived such a transition."
Fossils of Heterodontosaurus are incredibly rare, with only two adult finds from South Africa known so far.
Laura Porro found part of a fossilized baby skull with two adult fossils during excavations in Cape Town in the 60s. Dr. Richard Butler, a specialist at the Natural History Museum in London, described the find as extremely important, as it provides an opportunity to learn how this animal changed in the process of growth. Interestingly, most reptiles change their teeth throughout their lives, while Heterodontosaurus did this only during maturation, like mammals.
Another small one:
But in 2011, the discovery of a new fossil could indicate the existence of the smallest species in the world among all known dinosaurs. The feathered bird-like creature that lived more than 100 million years ago measured no more than 15.7 inches (40 centimeters) in length.
The fossil, represented as a small neck bone found in southern Britain, was only a quarter of an inch (7.1 millimeters) long. It belonged to an adult dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period 145-100 million years ago, University of Portsmouth paleozoologist Darren Naish reported in the current issue of Cretaceous Research.
This discovery should place in the ranks of the world's smallest dinosaurs another bird-like dinosaur, so far called Anchiornis, who lived in an area now called China, 160-155 million years ago. The recently found bone belongs to the maniraptoran, a group of theropod dinosaurs thought to be the ancient ancestors of modern birds.
With a fossil with only one vertebra available, it is difficult to guess exactly what it ate little dinosaur or even how big he really was.
The vertebra lacks a neurocentral suture, a rough, open line of bone that does not close until the dinosaur is an adult, Naish and his University of Portsmouth colleague Steven Sweetmen reported. This means that the dinosaur died as an adult animal.
But calculating the estimated length of a dinosaur from a single bone was tricky enough. The researchers used two methods to determine how big the maniraptoran was. The first method involved building a digital model of the dinosaur's neck, and then the scientists superimposed that neck on the silhouette of a typical maniraptoran.
The method is more art than science, as Naish wrote on his blog, Tetrapod Zoology, predicting that it must have infuriated some researchers. A little more mathematical method, used to calculate the neck and torso ratios of other related dinosaurs, was applied to determine the new maniraptoran length. Both methods led to the following figures - about 13-15.7 inches (33-50 centimeters), as noted by Naish.
The new dinosaur does not yet have official name and dubbed the Ashdown maniraptorian after the area where it was discovered. If Ashdown dino turns out to be the smallest recorded dinosaur, he will break the record for the smallest already. famous dinosaur North America about 6 inches (15 cm) in size. This dinosaur, Hesperonychus elizabethae, was a predatory velociraptor with a hideous twisted toe claw. He was about a foot and a half (50 cm) tall and weighed about 4 pounds (2 kilograms).
In the 1970s in the deposits of the Upper Triassic in Newfoundland (Canada) was found small footprint, left by someone, no larger than a thrush in size. The structure of the fingers is typical for carnivorous dinosaurs of that time. This print belongs to the smallest dinosaur ever found on Earth. However, it is still not known what age the individual that left the trace could be - an adult or a calf.
sources
http://dinopedia.ru/
http://dinosaurs.afly.ru/
http://dinohistory.ru/
http://www.zooeco.com/
And let's remember one of the versions, and also remember who Well, a question that indirectly relates to our today's topic - The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -All knowledge modern people about dinosaurs are in most cases gleaned from books and films, since watching them in natural environment modern man, unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately?) cannot. But even the knowledge that can be gleaned is quite enough to understand: a dinosaur is not at all a cute domestic animal, but a terrible monster. However, even among such a seemingly dangerous species of animals, there are representatives who are ahead of the whole class in terms of cruelty.
Scientific research on this species first appeared two years after the release of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. If they had appeared earlier, then this representative of the species would most likely have played one of the main roles there. Giganotosaurs did not lead a solitary life, but lived in packs.
The body of these dinosaurs reached fifteen meters in length. Also, according to scientists, this type of dinosaur, unlike many others, was able to live in a cold climate, thanks to the skin covered with feathers or wool (it is not known exactly).
A feature of this type of dinosaur is that their habitat was water, and they did not go to land. Pliosaurs are considered one of the largest predators that ever inhabited the planet Earth. It is hard to imagine, but only the tooth of such a dinosaur could reach forty centimeters in length.
Paleontologists found an eighteen-meter pliosaurus skeleton, and what was their surprise when they noticed marks and damage on it. They were inflicted by an even larger pliosaurus. Presumably, the body length of the attacking dinosaur was about twenty-five meters.
This type of dinosaur once inhabited African continent. According to scientists, the average body length of representatives of this species was twelve meters. However, the size of some individual representatives of the genus reached as much as eighteen meters.
According to some scientists, a feature of this type of dinosaur was the presence of a trunk, with which they delivered food to themselves. And spinosaurs ate preferentially sea fish. However, this opinion is not shared by all scientists, and in most of the reconstructed images, the spinosaurus is depicted without a trunk.
This type of dinosaur is very loved by directors. Hollywood movies. Authors of adventure novels and creators of computer games.
Most often, it is he who is depicted in history books when it comes to dinosaurs. And although scientists have made many discoveries confirming that the tyrannosaurus is not the most dangerous predator of the dinosaurs that lived on Earth, he is still confidently among the first in this top. After all, just think: strong and sharp teeth of a tyrannosaurus rex allowed him to bite through the strong shell of some ancient lizards. A feature of the body structure of this predator is the presence of two strong legs capable of holding and quite successfully transporting a huge body.
Tarbosaurus is slightly smaller than Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, this type of dinosaur had its advantages compared to the latter - large sizes head and number of teeth. Strong point Tarbosaurus had excellent sense of smell and hearing, but the dinosaur had problems with vision. Like Tyrannosaurus, Tarbosaurus moved on strong hind legs, and a long tail helped him keep his balance.
This predator, weighing four thousand kilograms, could reach twelve meters in length. However, there is also an opinion among scientists that in ancient times larger representatives of the species lived in Nigeria, which weighed twice as much, reaching two meters. greater length. Carcharodontosaurus did not live in packs, but preferred to hunt on their own.
In appearance, sarcosuchus resembles modern crocodiles. But not just in size. It is unlikely that anyone in the zoo will have the opportunity to look at a 12-meter crocodile, which weighs about six thousand kilograms.
It is one of the most researched dinosaurs. For the first time, scientists met him back in the distant 19th century. This predator reached nine meters in length, and its weight was about one and a half thousand kilograms.
A feature of the representatives of this species was the presence on the head of something similar to a horn. This horn he used as a means of attack and attacked his victim with it. Among scientists, there was a certain opinion regarding the operation of the sensory systems of this type of dinosaur: Mayunosaurus did not see well, but found its prey with the help of a well-developed sense of smell.
This type of dinosaur looks very similar to a tyrannosaurus rex and no less often appears in various fantasy films. Representatives of this species are able to reach eight meters in length and three in height.
Among paleontologists, there is a controversial issue regarding the life and existence of allosaurs. It consists in the following: did the representatives of this species live in solitude, or did they hunt in whole flocks? According to one point of view, the Allozars were too aggressive and ferocious animals to be able to coexist peacefully. Representatives of the opposite point of view refer to the find of archaeologists. So the last were found several skeletons of allosaurs at once in one place.
A feature of this type of dinosaur is the presence of huge wings and a beak. So, the wingspan of this predator in flight could reach fifteen meters. It is believed that the main prey of Pteranodon was fish.
The size of Deinonychus is slightly inferior to the sizes of the above representatives of the "dinosaur" species, but this does not make it less dangerous, since Deinonychus had a number of advantages. Firstly, small dimensions allowed him to win in speed of movement and agility. And secondly, a feature of Deinonychus was the presence of bones that helped him climb trees.
Compsognathus is considered one of the smallest carnivorous dinosaurs. His body was only a meter in size, and his small head was only up to seven centimeters in size. The bones of this dinosaur special structure, due to which they were very light. Therefore, the total weight of the dinosaur rarely exceeded three kilograms. But this gave him almost lightning speed and flexibility of movement. His teeth and claws were sharp as daggers, making it difficult for a Compsognathus victim to escape. Representatives of this species always went hunting in packs.
Amazing and mysterious animals -. Despite the fact that people could not catch their existence, the remains of dinosaurs were forever preserved in the geological deposits of the Earth, on the pages of scientific and fiction, in our imagination.
The segment separating humans and dinosaurs is 230 million years.
Of course, knowledge about these incredible creatures is due to painstaking work scientists around the world, collecting information bit by bit.
Many discoveries and findings have allowed us to restore appearance animals, design their behavior, determine the type of food and relationships with relatives.
In today's article, we invite you to get acquainted with the largest representatives of dinosaurs and evaluate their size and appearance.
The unusual name came to us from the Nahuatl language, and in translation it means “feathered serpent” - the deity of the Aztecs and other tribes of Central America.
To date, Quetzalcoatl is the only large representative of the pterosaurs order.
Flying lizards lived at the end of the Cretaceous period - 69-65 million years ago.
The weight of the quetzalcoatl reached 250 kg, the body length was 7 m. The wingspan of the feathered dinosaur was 12 meters.
They presumably fed on carrion, rarely on small animals. They had a long beak and sharp teeth which allowed them to absorb roughage without difficulty.
Quetzalcoatli were distributed in the United States, Texas.
The name of this species ancient lizard derived from two Greek words for flesh and crocodile. However, sarcosuchus does not belong to the order of crocodiles.
It is considered the largest crocodile-like reptile that lived in the Cretaceous period.
The body length of sarcosuchus could reach 15 meters, and the weight ranged from 8 to 14 tons. The dimensions of the skull were also gigantic - 1.6 m.
The huge sarcosuchus had a powerful jaw, the strength of which was 15-20 tons.
These dinosaurs fed on aquatic animals, fish and other lizards.
Scientists have determined that they lived on the territory of modern Africa.
Spinosaurus means "spiky lizard" in translation. Spinosaurus got its name due to the structure of the body and skin.
They lived in the Cretaceous period - 112-93.5 million years ago - on the territory of modern North Africa.
Spinosaurs have mastered both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Among the carnivorous relatives, they possessed the largest skull. Body weight could be from 9 to 12 tons, length - 15-18 meters.
Spinosaurus is easy to recognize: the sail-shaped vertebral processes are especially prominent in its appearance. They also had well-developed forelimbs, which helped them to hold the victim.
Scientists believe that the favorite delicacy of spinosaurs were sea stingrays.
The remains were first found in Egypt in 1915. It was they who allowed the German paleontologist E. Stromer to compile a detailed description.
Shantungosaurus is a hadrosaur found in Shandong Province, China, during the Late Cretaceous.
It is considered the largest representative of ornithisch lizards.
The herbivorous Shantungosaurus could reach 15-17 meters in length, and 15-20 tons in weight.
The dinosaur's beak was toothless, but the jaws themselves had about 1,500 tiny teeth designed to grind food.
Near the nostrils there was an opening closed by a membrane. By inflating it, Shantungosaurus could make sounds.
The unusual name, obtained due to the long neck and tail, translates as "double beam".
A giant representative of the lizard dinosaurs that existed in jurassic.
Diplodocus had a very impressive size: height - 10 m, body length - 28-32 m, weight - 20-30 tons. 4 powerful paws helped him move, and the tail created balance.
Some researchers, for example, believe that the tail could also serve as a means of communication between individuals in a flock. But its main purpose is protection from predators.
Diplodocus ate vegetation, algae and small molluscs. Poorly developed dinosaur teeth allowed him only to grind food, and not chew it.
Shonisaurus is considered the largest fish lizard, or ichthyosaur. They existed in the late Triassic period - 250-90 million years ago, hiding in the depths of the ocean.
The dimensions of shonisaurs were huge: length - 12-14 m, weight - 30-40 tons. The skull reached 2 meters and had narrow jaws.
Most likely, they were hunters, preferred big fish.
The largest burial was found in the state of Nevada in 1920. While extracting gold and silver, miners stumbled upon a giant skeleton.
All found remains belong to adults.
Sauroposeidon are giant sauropods that existed in the Cretaceous period - 125-100 million years ago.
FROM Greek name This dinosaur translates as "Poseidon's lizard".
The four-legged herbivore had gigantic dimensions: the length of the body reached 31-34 meters, and the weight of the lizard was 60 tons.
In the list of the tallest dinosaurs, Sauroposeidon would take second place, since its height, together with an outstretched neck, is 20 m.
Sauroposeidon females laid hundreds of eggs, but, unfortunately, a catastrophically small number survived: 3-4 individuals. This is due to the fact that after hatching, the babies were threatened by many dangers: apart from their size, they had no other protection.
Young Sauroposeidons lived on their own in the forests, feeding around the clock to grow. Only upon reaching a certain size, they were accepted into the flock.
This type of lizard was discovered quite recently - 1994, Oklahoma, USA. Unusual remains were found on the territory of the prison yard. Moreover, the initially found vertebrae were mistaken for the trunk huge tree.
So unusual name dinosaur acquired thanks to the dialect of local languages \u200b\u200bmapudungun. It translates as "the main giant."
Futalgnocosaurs lived in the Upper Cretaceous period - 94-85 million years ago - on the territory of modern South America.
Futalognosaurs grew up to 15 meters in height, 32-35 meters in length, while their weight reached 80 tons.
The remains of these giants were also discovered recently - in 2000, in the province of Neuquen, Argentina.
Argentinosaurus is one of the largest dinosaurs that lived in South America.
Obviously, they didn’t think about the name of this species for a long time: they called it, “a lizard from Argentina”.
Individuals of Argentinosaurs could grow to unimaginable sizes: body length - 22-35 m, weight of the lizard - 60-110 tons.
They had a long neck. 4 limbs were approximately the same in size - with the help of them they moved. The ability to stand up on 2 legs, shown in the Argentinosaurus films, is controversial, since the size of the front legs and body volume most likely would not have been allowed to do this.
The diet of the giants was leaves tall trees and other Cretaceous vegetation. In order for the food in the stomach to fray, they swallowed stones.
Mamenchisaurus are herbivorous sauropods. Existed in the Upper Jurassic on the territory of modern East Asia about 145 million years ago.
Mamenchisaurs had the longest neck, reaching a length of 15 m. All the vertebrae in the neck, and there were about 19 of them, were fastened with rows of ligaments, thanks to which the neck was strong and motionless.
The entire bone skeleton was strong and had little mass due to the cavities in each bone.
The body length of the mamenchisaurus was 25 meters, the weight of the lizards could be from 60 to 120 tons.
Despite the gigantic body size, the head of dinosaurs was small. They moved on 4 legs, and fed on leaves and other vegetation.
Amphicoelias - that ever existed on the planet. belongs to the genus herbivorous giants.
The body length was 40-65 m, body weight reached 160 tons.
The neck vertebrae were extremely light and allowed the Amphicelias to keep its neck in the air. The head was small, and the huge body was clumsy, which is why these dinosaurs became easy prey for predatory lizards.
Such large Amphicelias had to eat a lot, but even this had Negative consequences: they ate so many plants that after them many places became uninhabitable.
Amphicelias - the first open view herbivorous dinosaurs. The remains, or rather the only found fragment of a vertebra, were discovered in 1878 by archaeologist E. Cope.
Research scientists have shown that Amphicelias is not only the largest dinosaur, but also the largest creature that has ever existed on the planet.
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Fortunately for mankind, the era when the most predatory dinosaurs in the world still lived on our planet has long passed. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if these “cute” creatures were still in the neighborhood. An adrenaline rush is guaranteed. The largest predatory dinosaur - what is it?
Deinocheirus - a terrible hand
Presumably, the size of this "baby" was about 20 meters. To date, only two forelimbs of this dinosaur have been found in Mongolia. It remains only to find the complete skeleton of the monster to confirm this championship title. Judging by the size of the front paws (2.4 meters), this is really the largest predator dinosaur that lived on our earth.
By 70 million years ago, Deinocheirus was vastly larger than all existing theropods (meat-eating dinosaurs). It looked like a huge ostrich with long forelimbs. Thanks to such “hands”, he perfectly climbed trees and, with the help of sharp powerful claws, instantly tore his victim apart.
Egyptian spinosaurus - spiked lizard
A seven-ton handsome man ranging in size from 12 to 17 meters is considered one of the largest predatory dinosaurs of the prehistoric past. Its narrow, elongated skull is shaped like a crocodile's head. It is believed that he lived both on land and in water, but hunted only aquatic inhabitants. The latest discovery of Spinosaurus remains in Morocco proved that it moved on four legs, and not on two, as previously thought.
A hump on the back with a fatty layer made it possible to save energy reserves for periods of drought. Stenosaurus had sharp teeth and powerful front legs, which allowed it to easily catch both large fish and amphibians. On the back of this dinosaur was a membrane-fin, which could serve as a heat exchanger (1.8 meters).
"Royal lizard - tyrant" measured 14 - 15 in length and 5 - 5.6 meters in height. The tyrannosaurus weighed like a huge elephant (6 - 7 tons). He had the most powerful jaws and sharp teeth of all ground predators. Its powerful hind legs were well developed and helped to run fast enough, however, only for short distances. Long distances due to the huge weight were beyond the power of the tyrannosaurus. As a rule, he lay in wait for his prey in ambush and made an attack with a lightning dash. Only adult dinosaurs could escape from these powerful jaws, and young and old individuals became the prey of this predator.
The tyrannosaurus did not disdain carrion, the corpses of other dinosaurs also served as food for it. These giants hunted alone and strictly adhered to "their" territory. When the female laid her eggs, she spent the rest of the time near the nest, which could become a tasty prey for other dinosaurs. Due to the gases with which the atmosphere was filled in those days, 3-4 cubs from the entire litter were born. Was it possible to survive in such conditions, tyrannosaurs were doomed to extinction.
Giganotosaurus - giant southern lizard
Presumably, this predator lived on the territory of Argentina and had very impressive dimensions - 12 - 13 meters in length and about 4.5 meters in height. These inhabitants of Patagonia united in flocks to hunt large herbivorous dinosaurs, but alone they could only cope with old and sick individuals. Giganotosaurs did not disdain carrion either.
Throughout the history of the Late Cretaceous period, this species can also be attributed to the largest predatory dinosaurs in the world. Many remains of Tarbosaurus began to be found in the 40s of the last century, which makes it possible to compile a portrait of this handsome man. These predators lived in China and, possibly, Mongolia 70-80 million years ago.
Bipedal five-ton predators moved on their hind legs, and the forelimbs were disproportionately small with two fingers on each paw. Tarbosaurus hunted small herbivorous dinosaurs, but could also eat carrion. Due to instability, tarbosaurus did not run very fast, and therefore preferred to ambush prey.
Carcharodontosaurus - sharp-toothed lizard
This representative of predatory dinosaurs lived in Africa, its remains were found in Algeria and Morocco. The length of this monster was about 12 meters, with a weight of up to 6 tons. The first finds of the remains of Carcharodontosaurus were made back in 1925 by French paleontologists. The predator moved on two powerful hind legs, while the forelimbs were weak. He also had a long, elongated skull, resembling wide scissors. The body of the predator ended in a long tail.
Carcharadontosaurs hunted most often on flat terrain and could develop very good speed for such gigantic sizes. Sometimes they wandered into coastal areas and there they had conflicts over prey with another representative of the predatory dinosaurs - spinosaurus.
Bahariasaurus
Another representative of African predatory dinosaurs. He presumably lived on the territory of modern Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco. The predator is 11.9 meters long and weighs 4 tons. He had powerful hind limbs, but the front paleontologists have not been able to find so far, however, like the skull, so one can only guess about his image. It is believed that the Bahariyasaurus was quite mobile, and hunted near water bodies for smaller aquatic inhabitants, such as turtles.
