What was the largest dinosaur?
World's Largest Dinosaur
The "World's Largest Dinosaur" is the name of a model "Tyrannosaurus rex" located in the town of Drumheller in the Canadian province of Alberta. Built of fiberglass and steel, has a height of and a length of , considerably larger than the largest known specimens of the actual dinosaur which reached up to in length, and was up to tall at the hips. The dinosaur was built while former mayor Phil Bryant was in his term.
Paleontology in the United States
Early in the 20th century major finds continued, such as the Ice Age mammals of the La Brea Tar Pits. Mid-to-late twentieth-century discoveries in the United States triggered the Dinosaur Renaissance as the discovery of the bird-like "Deinonychus" overturned misguided notions of dinosaurs as plodding lizard-like animals, highlighting their sophisticated physiology and apparent relationship with birds. Other notable finds in the United States include "Maiasaura", which provided early evidence for parental care in dinosaurs and ""Seismosaurus"", the largest known dinosaur.
Evolution of dinosaurs
The sauropods are famous for being the largest land animals that ever lived, and for having relatively small skulls. The enlargement of prosauropod and sauropod dinosaurs into these giants and the change in skull length is illustrated in the following charts.
Compsognathidae
Compsognathids are considered to be among the smallest dinosaurs ever discovered. "Compsognathus longipes" was largely acknowledged to the smallest dinosaur and was around the size of a chicken when fully grown. The specimens found indicate that this species was around 1 m long and weighed 2.5 kg. However, recently other adult dinosaur specimen have now been found that are smaller than Compsognathus, including the dinosaurs "Caenagnathasia", "Microraptor", and "Parvicursor", all of which are estimated to be less than 1m long. Most of these specimen are incomplete, so size determination is still just an estimate.
Lyme Regis
The Blue Lias rock is host to a multitude of remains from the early Jurassic, a time from which good fossil records are rare. Many remains are well preserved, including complete specimens of important species. Many of the earliest discoveries of dinosaur and other prehistoric reptile remains were made in the area around Lyme Regis, notably those discovered by Mary Anning (1799–1847). Significant finds include "Ichthyosaur", "Plesiosaur", "Dimorphodon", "Scelidosaurus" (one of the first armoured dinosaurs) and "Dapedium". The town holds an annual Mary Anning Day and Lyme Regis Fossil Festival. A fossil of the world's largest moth was discovered in 1966 at Lyme Regis.
William May (artistic director)
He chose Sonny Tilders, one of the film and television industries' leading professionals in the field of animatronic puppetry, to head the development of the dinosaurs. May designed the fifteen life-size dinosaurs used in the production. Ten species of dinosaurs are included in the show, including the Liliensternus, Plateosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Utahraptor and Torosaurus. The largest dinosaur in the production, the Brachiosaurus, which most resembles the cranes which inspired the show, measures 56 feet long and 36 feet tall.
World's Largest Dinosaur
Drumheller is a town in the Badlands of east-central Alberta, on the Red Deer River, located northeast of Calgary. Drumheller is home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Various smaller dinosaur models are placed throughout the town.
Sauropoda
Neosauropoda is quite plausibly the largest clade of dinosaurs ever to have existed, with a few exceptions. Most exceptions are hypothesized to be caused by island dwarfism, although there is a trend in Titanosauria towards a smaller body size. The titanosaurs, however, have also been some of the largest sauropods ever. Other than titanosaurs, a clade of diplodocoids, a group of giants, called Dicraeosauridae, is diagnosed by a small body size. No sauropods were very small, however, for even "dwarf" sauropods are larger than , a size reached by only about 10% of all mammalian species.
Buitreraptor
"Buitreraptor" is from the early Late Cretaceous Candeleros Formation, dating to the Cenomanian-Turonian, about 94 million years ago, when South America was an isolated continent like Australia today. It was uncovered in a famous fossil site named "La Buitrera", the "vulture roost". Although dinosaurs are rare in this site, another nearby site had earlier yielded "Giganotosaurus", one of the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs.
Dinosaur size
Sauropodomorph size is difficult to estimate given their usually fragmentary state of preservation. Sauropods are often preserved without their tails, so the margin of error in overall length estimates is high. Mass is calculated using the cube of the length, so for species in which the length is particularly uncertain, the weight is even more so. Estimates that are particularly uncertain (due to very fragmentary or lost material) are preceded by a question mark. Each number represents the highest estimate of a given research paper. One large sauropod, "Maraapunisaurus fragillimus", was based on particularly scant remains that have been lost since their description by paleontologists in 1878. Analysis of the illustrations included in the original report suggested that "M. fragillimus" may have been the largest land animal of all time, weighing up to and measuring between long. One later analysis of the surviving evidence, and the biological plausibility of such a large land animal, suggested that the enormous size of this animal was an over-estimate due partly to typographical errors in the original report. This would later be challenged by a different study, which argued Cope's measurements were genuine and there's no basis for assuming typographical errors. The study, however, also reclassified the species and correspondingly gave a much lower length estimate of .
Civico Museo di Storia Naturale di Trieste
This hall contains the dinosaur called Antonio ("Tethyshadros insularis"), a hadrosauroid dinosaur dated 75 millions years ago, discovered in Villaggio del Pescatore paleontological site. It is one of the most complete dinosaurs that have been collected. 4-meters long and 1.3-meters tall, "Tethyshadros" lived on an island in the Western part of Tethys Ocean, between Africa and Northern Europe.
Giraffatitan
Between 1914 and the 1990s, "Giraffatitan" was claimed to be the largest dinosaur known, (ignoring the possibly larger but lost "Amphicoelias") and thus the largest land animal in history. In the later part of the twentieth century several giant titanosaurians found appear to have surpassed "Giraffatitan" in terms of sheer mass. However, "Giraffatitan" and "Brachiosaurus" are still the largest brachiosaurid sauropods known from relatively complete material.
Thecodontosaurus
Its remains are known mostly from Triassic "fissure fillings" in South England. "Thecodontosaurus" was a small bipedal animal, about 2 m (6.5 ft) long. It is one of the first dinosaurs to be discovered and is one of the oldest that existed. Many species have been named in the genus, but only the type species "Thecodontosaurus antiquus" is seen as valid today.
9949 Brontosaurus
This minor planet was named after Brontosaurus, a gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs, which walked on all four legs and lived in the Upper Jurassic. Adult individuals measured up to 20 meters and had a weight of up to 20 tons. Many Fossils have been found in the United States. Brontosaurus is one of the best-known dinosaurs. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 November 2002 ().
Aspex Gallery
More recently, Aspex was instrumental in bringing Heather & Ivan Morison's 'Luna Park' to Portsmouth in August 2010, in conjunction with Chapter, Cardiff, firstsite, Colchester and Safle. Part of the installation included a 53 foot recreation of an Ultrasauros on Southsea Common. The Ultrasauros was a dinosaur 'discovered' by the palaeontologist James A. Jensen in the 1970s. He claimed the set of giant bones that belonged to the largest dinosaur that ever lived. More than a decade later, however, it was revealed that his discovery was in fact a chimera, composed of bones from two different brachiosaur-type species.
Dakotaraptor
"Dakotaraptor" is exceptionally large for a dromaeosaurid; it has an estimated adult length of . This approaches the size of the largest known dromaeosaurid, "Utahraptor". "Dakotaraptor" however, does not have the proportions and adaptations of "Utahraptor", but more closely resembles smaller dromaeosaurids like "Deinonychus".
Dinosaur
The largest carnivorous dinosaur was "Spinosaurus", reaching a length of , and weighing 7–20.9 tonnes (7.7–23 short tons). Other large carnivorous theropods included "Giganotosaurus", "Carcharodontosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus". "Therizinosaurus" and "Deinocheirus" were among the tallest of the theropods. The largest Ornithischian dinosaur was probably the hadrosaurid "Shantungosaurus" which measured and weighed about .
Australian Age of Dinosaurs
In 1999 David Elliott, discovered the fossilised bone of what was, at the time, Australia's largest dinosaur while mustering sheep on his property Belmont near Winton. This bone was later identified as part of a giant femur from a Cretaceous sauropod that roamed the Winton area 95 million years ago. Following the discovery of more fossils during digs held in conjunction with the Queensland Museum, David and Judy Elliott called a public meeting in Winton on 17 August 2002 in view of establishing a dinosaur museum at Winton.
On 25 October 2002, ‘Australian Age of Dinosaurs Incorporated’, commenced operations as a not-for-profit organisation aimed at ensuring future dinosaur digs and the preparation and conservation of dinosaur fossils from the Winton Formation could continue. The organisation, with support from a strong member's volunteer base, began the initial stages of developing a major tourism attraction in the form of a dinosaur museum so that the discoveries could be preserved for perpetuity and be available to the public. 
While mustering sheep in March 2005, David Elliott discovered a new dinosaur site on Belmont and a subsequent dig in September uncovered the remains of one of Australia's most complete sauropod skeletons. A total of 17 pallets of fossil bones trapped in a fine siltstone rock were recovered and stored in the Belmont shed. The dinosaur was nicknamed "Wade", in posthumous honour of Australian Palaeontologist Dr Mary Wade who died during the dig. 
In late 2005, the discovery of a partial sauropod humerus on Elderslie Station, near Winton, led to a series of digs held by the AAOD Museum and the recovery of two dinosaur skeletons preserved together, one being a sauropod skeleton and the other a theropod. The sauropod was nicknamed "Matilda" and the theropod was nicknamed "Banjo" – both in honour of Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson and his classic poem "Waltzing Matilda". 
In mid-2006, David and Judy Elliott opened an "Australian Age of Dinosaurs" temporary fossil preparation facility in their shed at Belmont which was known locally as the "Prep Shed". It was here that fossil preparation was carried out by a small group of staff preparators and volunteers who were accommodated in the station's Jackeroo and Shearers Quarters. Work commenced on Wade and expanded to include the bones of "Banjo" and "Matilda" as each dig produced further fossils. This work continued for almost three years and incorporated the help of over 100 volunteers. It was during this time that the ‘Free Wade’ project began, supported by an Australian Geographic fundraiser and private donations from numerous volunteers, members and supporters. 
In September 2006, Peter and Carol Britton, owners of Mt Landsborough Station near Winton donated 1,400 hectares of mesa or "Jump-Up" country to AAOD as a site for the future Museum. Over the following three years funding was raised from Desert Channels Queensland to enable the new site to be fenced. The Winton Shire Council built a new gravel road to the top of the Jump-Up and the Queensland Government contributed $500,000 toward a fossil preparation facility, staff cottages and water and power amenities. The Prep Shed at Belmont was closed and all fossils and equipment relocated to the Jump-Up in early 2009. The new facilities were opened to the public in July 2009 by the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh as part of Queensland's 150th year (Q 150) celebrations. 
AAOD Inc was restructured in June 2008 to become a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee with a board of up to nine directors. The new company, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Ltd (AAODL) created a Society of Members (Australian Age of Dinosaurs Society) to carry on the support based work of AAOD Inc with levels of membership including ordinary members and life members, known as "Million Year Members".
Azhdarchidae
Azhdarchids are generally medium- to large-sized pterosaurs, with the largest achieving wingspans of , but several small-sized species have recently been discovered. Another azhdarchid that is currently unnamed, recently discovered in Transylvania, may be the largest representative of the family thus far discovered. This unnamed specimen (nicknamed "Dracula" by paleontologists), currently on display in the Altmühltal Dinosaur Museum in Bavaria is estimated to have a wingspan of , making it potentially the largest flying animal currently known to science.
Giganotosaurus
"Giganotosaurus" was one of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, but the exact size has been hard to determine due to the incompleteness of the remains found so far. Estimates for the most complete specimen range from a length of , a skull in length, and a weight of . The dentary bone that belonged to a supposedly larger individual has been used to extrapolate a length of . Some researchers have found the animal to be larger than "Tyrannosaurus", which has historically been considered the largest theropod, while others have found them to be roughly equal in size, and the largest size estimates for "Giganotosaurus" exaggerated. The skull was low, with rugose (rough and wrinkled) nasal bones and a ridge-like crest on the lacrimal bone in front of the eye. The front of the lower jaw was flattened, and had a downwards projecting process (or "chin") at the tip. The teeth were compressed sideways and had serrations. The neck was strong and the pectoral girdle proportionally small.
Dinosaur
The smallest dinosaur known is the bee hummingbird, with a length of only and mass of around . The smallest known non-avialan dinosaurs were about the size of pigeons and were those theropods most closely related to birds. For example, "Anchiornis huxleyi" is currently the smallest non-avialan dinosaur described from an adult specimen, with an estimated weight of 110 grams and a total skeletal length of . The smallest herbivorous non-avialan dinosaurs included "Microceratus" and "Wannanosaurus", at about long each.
Dilophosaurus
"Dilophosaurus" was one of the earliest large predatory dinosaurs, a medium-sized theropod, though small compared to some of the later theropods. Slender and lightly built, its size was comparable to that of a brown bear. The largest known specimen weighed about , measured about in length, and its skull was long. The smaller holotype specimen weighed about , was long, with a hip height of about , and its skull was long. A resting trace of a theropod similar to "Dilophosaurus" and "Liliensternus" has been interpreted by some researchers as showing impressions of feathers around the belly and feet, similar to down. Other researchers instead interpret these impressions as sedimentological artifacts created as the dinosaur moved, though this interpretation does not rule out that the track-maker could have borne feathers.
Diplodocus
"Diplodocus hallorum", known from partial remains, was even larger, and is estimated to have been the size of four elephants. When first described in 1991, discoverer David Gillette calculated it may have been up to 52 m (171 ft) long, making it the longest known dinosaur (excluding those known from exceedingly poor remains, such as "Amphicoelias"). Some weight estimates of this time ranged as high as . The estimated length was later revised downward to and later on to based on findings that show that Gillette had originally misplaced vertebrae 12–19 as vertebrae 20–27. The nearly complete "Diplodocus carnegii" skeleton at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on which size estimates of "D. hallorum" are mainly based, also was found to have had its 13th tail vertebra come from another dinosaur, throwing off size estimates for "D. hallorum" even further. While dinosaurs such as "Supersaurus" were probably longer, fossil remains of these animals are only fragmentary.
Aramberri, Nuevo León
In 2002, Aramberri, attracted national and international media attention when it was announced the discovery of a large Pliosaur fossil, often referred by the press as "the Aramberri Monster", as they believed it looks like the Lochness Monster. The specimen is actually a very large pliosaur, possibly reaching 15 m (50 ft) in length. The media published exaggerated reports claiming it was 25 m (80 ft) long, and weighed up to 150,000 kg, which would have made it the largest predator of all time. This error was dramatically perpetuated in BBC's documentary series "Walking with Dinosaurs", which also prematurely classified it as a Liopleurodon ferox. On January 7, 2003, the fossil was transferred and reconstructed at the Natural History Museum of Karlsruhe in Germany, and was kept in exhibition until 2003, when it was transferred to the Museo del Desierto in Saltillo, Coahuila. The fossil is on exhibition at the Museo de historia Mexicana in Monterrey.
Triceratopsini
Triceratopsini is a tribe of herbivorous chasmosaurine dinosaurs that lived between the late Campanian to the late Maastrichtian stages of the Cretaceous period, between 74.73 and 66 million years ago. Fossils of these animals have been found in western North America, in particular West Canada, Western and Midwestern United States, which was once part of the ancient continent of Laramidia. The tribe was named by Nicholas R. Longrich in 2011 for the description of "Titanoceratops", which he defined as "as all species closer to "Triceratops horridus" than to "Anchiceratops ornatus" or "Arrhinoceratops brachyops"". Triceratopsins were the largest of the chasmosaurines; suggesting that gigantism had evolved in the Ceratopsidae once. In addition there is an evolutionary trend in the solidification of the frills, the most extreme being in "Triceratops".
Gigantosaurus (TV series)
Based on the bestselling book by Jonny Duddle and publisher Templar, four dinosaur friends explore their world and seek out and learn about the “Gigantosaurus”, the biggest, fiercest dinosaur of all.
Deuterosaurus
"Deuterosaurus" is found in what is now Siberia, which in the Permian was dominated by temperate lowlands. "Deuterosaurus" was among the largest animals of its day, and has variously been interpreted as a herbivore or carnivore. While the large canines may indicate the ability to kill prey, the short legs and massive body would have made it unsuited as a long distance runner, and better suited to eating plants. Then again, the possible stereoscopic vision again indicates an ambush style carnivore, and the rather blunt, cone-like post canine teeth can be interpreted both ways. Possibly "Deuterosaurus" was omnivorous, like a modern bear.
Paleontology in New Mexico
In 1979, two hikers discovered a series of gigantic articulated vertebrae fossils near San Ysidro. They reported the remains to David Gilette of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. Gillette led an expedition into the region and used cutting edge technology to locate the remains while they were still entombed in sandstone. The team excavated a massive quarry and gradually recovered a significant portion of the rear half of a diplodocid sauropod dinosaur. In 1991 this dinosaur was formally described as the new genus "Seismosaurus" and estimated to be the longest dinosaur known to science at long. In 1989, excavation began at the fossils site Rodney Peterson discovered near Albuquerque. Fossils recovered included a huge allosaurid that may be referrable to the genus "Saurophaganax", "Camarasaurus", and the skull and teeth of a diplodocid. This was the first major quarry in New Mexico to preserve a significant number of bones from a variety of dinosaur species. During the early 80s, another partial sauropod skeleton was discovered near San Ysidro. The remains were thought to belong to the species "Camarasaurus supremus". Prior to these discoveries most dinosaur fossils discovered in New Mexico were scrappy remains uncovered serenipitously by mining operations and surveys for uranium. More recently, in the 2000s, "Seismosaurus" was found to be the same as "Diplodocus", a previously known dinosaur of similar age from the western United States.
Dromaeosauridae
Dromaeosaurids were small to medium-sized dinosaurs, ranging from about in length (in the case of "Mahakala") to approaching or over (in "Utahraptor", "Dakotaraptor" and "Achillobator"). Some may have grown larger; undescribed specimens of "Utahraptor" in Brigham Young University collections belonged to individuals that may have reached up to long, though these await more detailed study. Large size appears to have evolved at least twice among dromaeosaurids; once among the dromaeosaurines "Utahraptor" and "Achillobator", and again among the unenlagiines ("Austroraptor", which measured long). A possible third lineage of giant dromaeosaurids is represented by isolated teeth found on the Isle of Wight, England. The teeth belong to an animal the size of the dromaeosaurine "Utahraptor", but they appear to belong to velociraptorines, judging by the shape of the teeth.
Earl Douglass
Douglass played a central role in one of the most important fossil finds in North America. In 1905, he was sent to Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho to collect vertebrate and invertebrate fossils. Additionally, he obtained data to solve certain geological problems and conduct geological explorations. In 1907, Douglass traveled to the Uintah Basin in northeastern Utah to explore fossiliferous strata. Later in 1908, he explored the hills along the Green River near Jensen, Utah and came upon with the tail section of an Apatasaurus in the Morrison Formation. The following year while searching fossils for the Carnegie Museum, he discovered a formation layered with prehistoric plant and animal fossils. In the summer of 1909, Earl traveled to Utah to search for dinosaur skeletons , where he discovered his famous dinosaur at the Utah quarry. The dinosaur was formally named "Apatosaurus louisae", after Carnegie’s wife Louise. In the same year, while climbing the Split Mountain near Jenson, Utah he found eight large vertebrae partially embedded in the rock, which turned out to be the entire body of a brontosaur nearly 70 feet long.
Notocolossus
The evidence suggests that "Notocolossus" was among the largest titanosaurs, and therefore one of the heaviest land animals, yet discovered. Although the incompleteness of the skeleton of the new sauropod has prevented scientists from making precise estimates of its size, its humerus, or upper arm bone, is 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) in length, which is longer than that of any other titanosaur for which this bone is known, including other giants such as "Dreadnoughtus", "Futalognkosaurus", and "Paralititan". If, as is likely, the body proportions of "Notocolossus" were comparable to those of better preserved titanosaurs, the new dinosaur may have weighed in the range of , most likely .
Iguanodon
The largest find of "Iguanodon" remains to that date occurred on 28 February 1878 in a coal mine at Bernissart in Belgium, at a depth of , when two mineworkers, Jules Créteur and Alphonse Blanchard, accidentally hit on a skeleton that they initially took for petrified wood. With the encouragement of Alphonse Briart, supervisor of mines at nearby Morlanwelz, Louis de Pauw on 15 May 1878 started to excavate the skeletons and in 1882 Louis Dollo reconstructed them. At least 38 "Iguanodon" individuals were uncovered, most of which were adults. In 1882, the holotype specimen of "I. bernissartensis" became one of the first ever dinosaur skeletons mounted for display. It was put together in a chapel at the Palace of Charles of Lorraine using a series of adjustable ropes attached to scaffolding so that a lifelike pose could be achieved during the mounting process. This specimen, along with several others, first opened for public viewing in an inner courtyard of the palace in July 1883. In 1891 they were moved to the Royal Museum of Natural History, where they are still on display; nine are displayed as standing mounts, and nineteen more are still in the Museum's basement. The exhibit makes an impressive display in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, in Brussels. A replica of one of these is on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and at the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge. Most of the remains were referred to a new species, "I. bernissartensis", a larger and much more robust animal than the English remains had yet revealed. One specimen, IRSNB 1551, was at first referred to the nebulous, gracile "I. mantelli", but is currently referred to "Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis". The skeletons were some of the first complete dinosaur skeletons known. Found with the dinosaur skeletons were the remains of plants, fish, and other reptiles, including the crocodyliform "Bernissartia".
Puertasaurus
"Puertasaurus" was a very large animal. Its size is difficult to estimate due of the scarcity of its remains, but modern estimates place it around long and in mass. The largest of the four preserved bones is the dorsal vertebra, which at wide is the broadest known vertebra of any sauropod. The Cerro Fortaleza Formation is of uncertain age, due to the inconsistency of stratigraphic nomenclature in Patagonia. When "Puertasaurus" was alive, the Cerro Fortaleza Formation would have been a humid, forested landscape. "Puertasaurus" would have shared its habitat with other dinosaurs, including another large sauropod, "Dreadnoughtus", in addition to other reptiles and fish.
Breviparopus
Breviparopus (ichnotype B. taghbaloutensis) is the name given to an ichnogenus of dinosaur, having been made by an unknown genus of sauropod. As an ichnogenus, the taxon is represented by (and named for) a 90-metre (295 ft) long series of fossil tracks, or ichnites, found in the spring of 1979 in the Atlas Mountains of present-day Morocco. At the time, this area would have been part of the splitting Gondwana supercontinent. The animal that produced the "Breviparopus" tracks is rumored to be one of the largest dinosaurs, though its exact size has been the subject of much debate.
Dinosaur
Using one of the above definitions, dinosaurs can be generally described as archosaurs with hind limbs held erect beneath the body. Many prehistoric animal groups are popularly conceived of as dinosaurs, such as ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and pelycosaurs (especially "Dimetrodon"), but are not classified scientifically as dinosaurs, and none had the erect hind limb posture characteristic of true dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates of the Mesozoic, especially the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Other groups of animals were restricted in size and niches; mammals, for example, rarely exceeded the size of a domestic cat, and were generally rodent-sized carnivores of small prey.
Dinosaur 13
The film depicts events that began in 1990, when American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson working with Pete Larson and his Black Hills Institute of Geological Research team discovered the largest and most complete "Tyrannosaurus rex" skeleton ever found (nicknamed "Sue") while digging in the badlands near Faith, South Dakota. The skeleton was seized from the institute by the federal government, followed by a 10-year-long battle with the FBI, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Maurice Williams, the landowner on whose property the bones were discovered. Pete Larson also spent 18 months in prison, on unrelated charges of international money laundering and trading fossils on the black market.
Titanoboa: Monster Snake
Titanoboa: Monster Snake is a 2012 documentary film produced by the Smithsonian Institution. The documentary treats "Titanoboa", the largest snake ever found. Fossils of the snake were uncovered from the Cerrejón Formation at Cerrejón, the tenth biggest coal mine in the world in the Cesar-Ranchería Basin of La Guajira, northern Colombia, covering an area larger than Washington, D.C. The documentary premiered at the Smithsonian Channel on April 1, 2012, followed by a panel discussion from the scientists who spearheaded the research: Carlos Jaramillo from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Jonathan Bloch from the Florida Museum of Natural History and Jason Head from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Hector's ichthyosaur
Hector's ichthyosaur, or the New Zealand ichthyosaur, is an unidentified extinct genus of ichthyosaur discovered in 1874. Its remains have been lost, and it may be the largest animal ever to have existed. It was named by Richard Lydekker in honor of James Hector.
Dinosaur National Monument
The dinosaur fossil beds (bone beds) were discovered in 1909 by Earl Douglass, a paleontologist working and collecting for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. He and his crews excavated thousands of fossils and shipped them back to the museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for study and display. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the dinosaur beds as Dinosaur National Monument in 1915. The monument boundaries were expanded in 1938 from the original tract surrounding the dinosaur quarry in Utah, to its present extent of over 200,000 acres (800 km²) in Utah and Colorado, encompassing the spectacular river canyons of the Green and Yampa.
Alamosaurus
"Alamosaurus" was a gigantic quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and tail and relatively long limbs. Its body was at least partly covered in bony armor.The total length of "Alamosaurus" is estimated to be long. Though most of the complete remains come from juvenile or small adult specimens, three fragmentary specimens, SMP VP−1625, SMP VP−1850 and SMP VP−2104, suggest that adult "Alamosaurus" could have grown to enormous sizes comparable to the largest known dinosaurs like "Argentinosaurus", which has been estimated to weigh . Scott Hartman estimates "Alamosaurus" being slightly shorter at and is equal in weight to other massive titanosaurs such as "Argentinosaurus" and "Puertasaurus". However, he says that at the moment, scientists do not know whether the massive tibia belongs to an "Alamosaurus" or a completely new species of sauropod.
Though no skull has ever been found, rod-shaped teeth have been found with "Alamosaurus" skeletons and probably belonged to this dinosaur. The vertebrae from the middle part of its tail had elongated centra. "Alamosaurus" had vertebral lateral fossae that resembled shallow depressions. Fossae that similarly resemble shallow depressions are known from "Saltasaurus", "Malawisaurus", "Aeolosaurus", and "Gondwanatitan". "Venenosaurus" also had depression-like fossae, but its "depressions" penetrated deeper into the vertebrae, were divided into two chambers, and extend farther into the vertebral columns. "Alamosaurus" had more robust radii than "Venenosaurus".
Changyuraptor
The Jehol Biota are found in the richest fossil beds for feathered dinosaurs in the world which have yielded notable species such as "Yutyrannus huali", a feathered tyrannosauroid with a length of and the largest feathered dinosaur known to date.
Cultural depictions of dinosaurs
Louis Paul Jonas created the first full sized dinosaur sculptures for the 1964 New York World's Fair in the "Dinoland" area, which was sponsored by the Sinclair Oil Corporation, whose logo featured a dinosaur. Jonas consulted with paleontologists Barnum Brown, Edwin H. Colbert and John Ostrom in order to create nine sculptures that were as accurate as possible. After the Fair closed, the dinosaur models toured the country on flatbed trailers as part of a company advertising campaign. Most of the statues are now on display at various museums and parks.
In 1967, the Sinclair Oil Corporation gave one of its dinosaurs, a fiberglass model of a "Triceratops", to the Smithsonian Institution. The model, which appeared in "The Enormous Egg" television movie in 1968 as "Uncle Beazley", is now on display at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. From the 1970s to 1994, the statue was located on the National Mall in front of the National Museum of Natural History. (Some sources state that the Kentucky Science Center in Louisville (formerly named the "Louisville Museum of Natural History and Science" and the "Louisville Science Center") now owns the "Triceratops" model).
Dallasaurus
Dallasaurus ("Dallas lizard") is a basal mosasauroid from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. Along with "Russellosaurus", "Dallasaurus" is one of the two oldest mosasauroid taxa currently known from North America. This small semi-aquatic lizard measured less than a meter in length, compared to such gigantic derived mosasaurs as "Tylosaurus" and "Mosasaurus", each exceeding 14 meters.
Dinosauria (museum)
Opened in 1992, it is directed by the association which created it, which is also named "Dinosauria". The museum exhibits at least 35 different species of dinosaurs, mounted skeletons or life-size models. It also shows documentary films to the public. The museum collections and rooms include skeletons, paleontological workshops and some other elements. In 2007, the museum received the complete skeleton of an "Ampelosaurus atacis" specimen, found six years earlier (2001) during excavations in Bellevue ("Bèlavista" in Occitan), in the town of Campagne-sur-Aude ("Campanha d'Aude" in Occitan). This skeleton is the most complete dinosaur skeleton of its size ever found in France, and is nicknamed "Eva" aftere of Eva Morvan, the student who first discovered it during the 2000/2001 excavations.
Andesaurus
Andesaurus ( ; "Andes lizard") is a genus of basal titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur which existed during the middle of the Cretaceous Period in South America. Like most sauropods, it would have had a small head on the end of a long neck and an equally long tail. "Andesaurus" was a very large animal, as were many others of its relatives, which included the largest animals ever to walk the Earth.
Sauropoda
Their body structure did not vary as much as other dinosaurs, perhaps due to size constraints, but they displayed ample variety. Some, like the diplodocids, possessed tremendously long tails, which they may have been able to crack like a whip as a signal or to deter or injure predators, or to make sonic booms. "Supersaurus", at long, was the longest sauropod known from reasonably complete remains, but others, like the old record holder, "Diplodocus", were also extremely long. The holotype (and now lost) vertebra of "Amphicoelias fragillimus" may have come from an animal long; its vertebral column would have been substantially longer than that of the blue whale. However, a research published in 2015 speculated that the size estimates of "A. fragillimus" may have been highly exaggerated. The longest dinosaur known from reasonable fossils material is probably "Argentinosaurus huinculensis" with length estimates of to .
Choristodera
The neochoristoderan taxa Champsosauridae and Simoedosauridae are found from the Late Cretaceous to the middle Eocene, indicating that the group survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. "Champsosaurus" teeth, vertebrae, and other bones are common fossils in Cretaceous deposits such as the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta and the Lance Formation of Wyoming. The presence of champsosaurs as far north as the North Slope of Alaska implies warmer temperatures during the Cretaceous. The Paleocene species, "Champsosaurus gigas", is the largest known champsosaur. The most complete skeleton was found at the Wannagan Creek site in North Dakota, but is found throughout North American Paleocene strata in the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana. "C. gigas" is unusual among Paleocene reptiles in that it is far larger than known Mesozoic ancestors, at about 3 meters in length (10 ft) versus 1.5 meters (5 ft) for the largest Cretaceous champsosaurs.
Evolution of dinosaurs
The earliest confirmed dinosaur fossils include saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs "Nyasasaurus" 243 Ma, "Saturnalia" 225-232 Ma, "Herrerasaurus" 220-230 Ma, "Staurikosaurus" possibly 225-230 Ma, "Eoraptor" 220-230 Ma and "Alwalkeria" 220-230 Ma. "Saturnalia" may be a basal saurischian or a prosauropod. The others are basal saurischians.
History of paleontology in the United States
By the beginning of the 19th, their fossil footprints definitely had. Later in the century as more dinosaur fossils were uncovered eminent paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh were embroiled in a bitter rivalry to collect the most fossils and name the most new prehistoric species. Early in the 20th century major finds continued, like the Ice Age mammals of the La Brea Tar Pits, the Oligocene bonebeds of South Dakota, and the Triassic bonebeds of New Mexico. Mid-to-late twentieth century discoveries in the United States triggered the Dinosaur Renaissance as the discovery of the bird-like "Deinonychus" overturned misguided notions of dinosaurs as plodding lizard-like animals, cemented their sophisticated physiology and relationship with birds. Other notable finds include "Maiasaura", which provided early evidence for parental care in dinosaurs and ""Seismosaurus"" the largest known dinosaur.
Sinoceratops
"Sinoceratops" was a medium-sized, averagely-built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore. It could grow up to an estimated length and height, and weigh up to . It was the first ceratopsid dinosaur discovered in China, and the only ceratopsid known from Asia. All other centrosaurines, and all chasmosaurines, are known from fossils discovered in North America, except for possibly "Turanoceratops". "Sinoceratops" is also significant because it is one of the largest known centrosaurines, and is much larger than any other known basal members of this group.
Mamenchisaurus
In 1993, "M. sinocanadorum" was described, which consisted of skull material and the first four cervical vertebrae. This species possessed the longest cervical rib of any described sauropod dinosaur, measuring . This is longer than the longest "Sauroposeidon" cervical rib, which measures . Additional remains attributed to this species, but not yet formally described, belong to one of the largest dinosaurs known—the restored skeleton measuring in length with a neck measuring nearly long.
Physiology of dinosaurs
No dinosaur egg has been found that is larger than a basketball and embryos of large dinosaurs have been found in relatively small eggs, e.g. Maiasaura. Like mammals, dinosaurs stopped growing when they reached the typical adult size of their species, while mature reptiles continued to grow slowly if they had enough food. Dinosaurs of all sizes grew faster than similarly sized modern reptiles; but the results of comparisons with similarly sized "warm-blooded" modern animals depend on their sizes:
"Tyrannosaurus rex" showed a "teenage growth spurt":
Puertasaurus
Due to a lack of better material, the size of "Puertasaurus" is difficult to estimate. Novas estimated the new species was approximately long and weighing between . This would place it as one of the largest dinosaurs, only rivaled in size by its relative "Argentinosaurus", which has been estimated at up to in length and in mass. The discovery of the more complete "Futalognkosaurus" revealed these previous estimates were likely too high. In 2012, Thomas Holtz estimated "Puertasaurus" to have been potentially long. In 2013, the entire neck was estimated to have been approximately long by Mike Taylor and Matt Wedel. Later the same year, Scott Hartman made a reconstruction that suggests a total length of , slightly shorter than other estimates. In 2016, Gregory S. Paul estimated a length of and a weight of at least . In 2017, paleontologist José Carballido and his colleagues estimated its mass at roughly , which was lighter than "Patagotitan", a more complete giant sauropod.
Pterosaur size
Pterosaurs included the largest flying animals ever to have lived. They are a clade of prehistoric archosaurian reptiles closely related to dinosaurs. Species among pterosaurs occupied several types of environments, which ranged from aquatic to forested. Below is a list that comprises the largest pterosaurs known .
Natural History Museum, Berlin
The museum houses more than 30 million zoological, paleontological, and mineralogical specimens, including more than ten thousand type specimens. It is famous for two exhibits: the largest mounted dinosaur in the world (a "Giraffatitan" skeleton), and a well-preserved specimen of the earliest known bird, "Archaeopteryx". The museum's mineral collections date back to the Prussian Academy of Sciences of 1700. Important historic zoological specimens include those recovered by the German deep-sea Valdiva expedition (1898–99), the German Southpolar Expedition (1901–03), and the German Sunda Expedition (1929–31). Expeditions to fossil beds in Tendaguru in former Deutsch Ostafrika (today Tanzania) unearthed rich paleontological treasures. The collections are so extensive that less than 1 in 5000 specimens is exhibited, and they attract researchers from around the world. Additional exhibits include a mineral collection representing 75% of the minerals in the world, a large meteor collection, the largest piece of amber in the world; exhibits of the now-extinct quagga, huia, and tasmanian tiger, and "Bobby" the gorilla, a Berlin Zoo celebrity from the 1920s and 1930s.
Muttaburra
In 1963 Muttaburra was the discovery site of the "Muttaburrasaurus", one of Australia's largest dinosaurs, by Doug Langdon The dinosaur is believed to have been long, high from the hip and weighing . It was a herbivore, with rows of grinding teeth, and probably ate plants such as ferns, cycads and conifers. It may have lived in herds. "Muttaburrasaurus" lived around 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. Several specimens of this dinosaur have been found in central and northern Queensland, and a few teeth have been found in New South Wales. There is a full size replica in the town.
Amazonsaurus
Amazonsaurus ( , "Amazon lizard") is a genus of diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. It would have been a large-bodied quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and whiplash tail. Although more derived diplodocoids were some of the longest animals ever to exist, "Amazonsaurus" was probably not more than 12 meters (40 ft) long. Gregory S. Paul estimated in 2010 its weight at 5000 kg.
Plaza Huincul
The Argentinosaurus is the largest dinosaur to walk on earth and it was discovered in Plaza Huincul by Guillermo Heredia. It is estimated that it lived on Earth 94-97 million years ago. The Argentinosaurus has a height of 35 meters and Paleontologists have estimated that it may have weighed as much as 75 to 100 tonnes. The Argentinosaurus was discovered in 1987 by a rancher who mistook the legbone of a dinosaurs for petrified wood
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
The museum gained prominence in 1899 when its scientists unearthed the fossils of "Diplodocus carnegii". Today its dinosaur collection includes the world's largest collection of Jurassic dinosaurs and its "Dinosaurs in Their Time" exhibition offers the third largest collection of mounted, displayed dinosaurs in the United States (behind the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History). Notable specimens include one of the world's only fossils of a juvenile "Apatosaurus", the world's first specimen of a "Tyrannosaurus rex", and a recently identified species of oviraptorosaur named "Anzu wyliei".
Velociraptor in popular culture
Production on "Jurassic Park" began before the discovery of the large dromaeosaurid "Utahraptor" was made public in 1991, but as Jody Duncan wrote about this discovery: "Later, after we had designed and built the Raptor, there was a discovery of a Raptor skeleton in Utah, which they labeled 'super-slasher'. They had uncovered the largest Velociraptor to date - and it measured five-and-a-half-feet tall, just like ours. So we designed it, we built it, and then they discovered it. That still boggles my mind." Spielberg was particularly pleased with the discovery of the "Utahraptor" because of the boost it gave to the "Velociraptors" in his film. Spielberg's name was briefly considered for naming of the new dinosaur. In reality, "Velociraptor", like many other maniraptoran theropods, was covered in feathers. "Jurassic Park" and its sequel "" were released before this discovery, so the creatures in both films are depicted as featherless with scales all over in the manner of modern reptiles. For "Jurassic Park III," the male "Velociraptor" was given quill-like structures along the back of the head and neck. While this was the extent to which CGI effects were able to render feathers at the time, the structures do not resemble the down-like feathers real-life dromaeosaurids bore or the fully developed arm feathers, akin to the wing feathers of modern birds, born by "Velociraptor". In "Jurassic World", the raptors appear as protagonists, but their design was the same as it was from the first two films, which drew criticism due to their lack of feathers, even though they were modifying cloning animals. The film has retroactively established that, because of geneticists like Dr. Henry Wu (portrayed by BD Wong) have been filling gaps in the dinosaur genome with the DNA of other animals, they made the film series' dinosaurs such as the "Velociraptors" and "Dilophosaurus" look and even behave very differently than their predecessors, therefore explains why they do not have feathers since all genetic-engineered dinosaurs are not pure.
Bambiraptor
"Bambiraptor" had a brain size in the lower range of modern birds. Because of its enlarged cerebellum, which may indicate higher agility and higher intelligence than other dromaeosaurs, David A. Burnham has hypothesized that "Bambiraptor feinbergi" may have been arboreal. Life in the trees may have required evolutionary pressure that resulted in a larger brain. Burnham also offers an alternative hypothesis that a larger brain could be selected for as a result of hunting more agile prey items such as lizards and mammals. The "Bambiraptor" holotype had with 14 cm³ the largest brain for its size of any dinosaur yet discovered, although the brain size may be due to its age, because juvenile animals tend to have larger brain-to-body ratios compared to adults.
Velociraptor
Production on "Jurassic Park" began before the discovery of the large dromaeosaurid "Utahraptor" was made public in 1991, but as Jody Duncan wrote about this discovery: "Later, after we had designed and built the Raptor, there was a discovery of a Raptor skeleton in Utah, which they labeled 'super-slasher'. They had uncovered the largest Velociraptor to date - and it measured five-and-a-half-feet tall, just like ours. So we designed it, we built it, and then they discovered it. That still boggles my mind." Spielberg was particularly pleased with the discovery of the "Utahraptor" because of the boost it gave to the velociraptors in his film. Spielberg's name was briefly considered for naming of the new dinosaur. In reality, "Velociraptor", like many other maniraptoran theropods, was covered in feathers.
Prata, Minas Gerais
At Prata there were found rock paintings and fossils of the biggest dinosaur found in Brazil which lived 80 million years ago in the region of Serra da Boa Vista, 40 km from the municipal seat.
The dinosaur was called Maxakalisaurus topai and, after popular vote, it is now known as DINOPRATA.
The model of the 13 meter long titanossauro (made in resin) has been on display in the Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro since August, 2006.
Rodolfo Coria
He is best known for having directed the field study and co-naming of "Argentinosaurus" (possibly the world's largest land animal ever) in 1993, and "Giganotosaurus" (one of the largest known terrestrial carnivores), in 1996 among other landmark South American dinosaurs. He is a member of the Argentine Paleontological Association, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Paleontological Society and The Explorers Club.
Clarens, Free State
The team discovered the remains of the largest dinosaur to walk in the southern parts of Africa , namely a 190-million-year-old fossilised egg of a Massospondylus dinosaur. This dinosaur lived in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, a period from about 230-million years ago to about 185-million years ago. The Massospondylus wandered about in great herds, migrating back and forth between what would millions of years later become Southern Africa and Russia, when the southern super-continent, Gondwana, was still intact. The rocks that were laid down during this period are called the Stormberg Group of rocks, and it is in rocks of the Stormberg Group that the fossils of Massospondylus and other dinosaurs were found. Massospondylus dinosaurs hatched from eggs not much larger than a hen’s egg, but grew into big creatures 5 to 6 metres long. They had large bodies, long necks and small heads, and long tails.
Antarctosaurus
Antarctosaurus (; meaning "southern lizard") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. The type species, "Antarctosaurus wichmannianus", was described by prolific German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1929, who also described a second species in 1929. Three additional species of "Antarctosaurus" have been named since then but later studies have indicated that none of these pertain to "Antarctosaurus. Antarctosaurus giganteus," the second species, is also considered dubious but it's remains represent one of the largest dinosaurs known.
Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia
"Strong One" is first shown among an "Argentinosaurus" nest with hatchlings venturing out. The narrator announces that if "Strong One" survives, he will grow to become one of the largest creatures the Earth has ever known. Then, depicting just how precarious life was, a "Unenlagia" arrives and steals an egg, which it runs off with to feast on elsewhere. At this point, we travel back to the present day in order to witness Rodolfo Coria's discovery of "Argentinosaurus". The narrator explains that Coria owns his own museum, the Museo Carmen Funes (the museum is featured in the movie as we see Rodolfo Coria in his museum with one of his daughters, as he shows her casts of "Argentinosaurus" and "Giganotosaurus" skeletons). We see Coria as he arrives at a digging site with his daughters, where he and his team work on digging out an enormous backbone, which one scientist declares larger than any other bone he had seen. They discover that the bone belonged to a large sauropod. They named it "Argentinosaurus", meaning "Argentinian Lizard".
Evolution of dinosaurs
With the exception of "Argentinosaurus" (included to fill a gap in time), these graphs show only the length of sauropods for whom near-complete fossil skeletons are known. It doesn't show other very large sauropods (see Dinosaur size#Sauropods) because these are only known from very incomplete skeletons. The ratio of skull length to body length is much higher in "Eoraptor" than in sauropods. The longest skull graphed is of "Nemegtosaurus", which is not thought be a particularly large sauropod. The skull of "Nemegtosaurus" was found near the headless skeleton of 11 metre (36 ft) long "Opisthocoelicaudia", and it has been suggested that they may be the same species, but see Nemegtosauridae.
Azhdarchidae
Azhdarchidae (from Persian word "azhdar" (), a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the early Cretaceous as well (late Berriasian age, about 140 million years ago). Azhdarchids included some of the largest-known flying animals of all time, but members no larger than a cat have also been found. Originally considered a sub-family of Pteranodontidae, Nesov (1984) named the azhdarchinae to include the pterosaurs "Azhdarcho", "Quetzalcoatlus", and "Titanopteryx" (now known as "Arambourgiania"). They were among the last known surviving members of the pterosaurs, and were a rather successful group with a worldwide distribution. By the time of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, most pterosaur families except for the Azhdarchidae disappear from the fossil record, but recent studies indicate a wealth in pterosaurian faunas, including pteranodontids, nyctosaurids, tapejarids and several indeterminate forms. Some taxa like "Navajodactylus", "Bakonydraco" and "Montanazhdarcho" were moved from Azhdarchidae to other clades.
List of dinosaur parks
A dinosaur park usually refers to a theme park in which several life-size sculptures or models of prehistoric animals, especially dinosaurs are displayed. The first dinosaur park worldwide was Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, which opened in London in 1854. From 1977–1991 the largest dinosaur park in Europe was the Traumlandpark in Bottrop-Kirchhellen. The two biggest dinosaur theme parks in Germany today are the Dinosaur Park at Münchehagen (Dinopark) and the Dinosaur Park at Kleinwelka with its neighbouring dinosaur garden of Großwelka. In addition there are also individual models in the open air as well as various dinosaur museums. Other dinosaur parks are listed below:
Lebanon
Roadside Dinosaurs (http://www.roadarch.com/dinos/main.html)
Turiasaurus
"Turiasaurus" is believed to be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe, and is among the largest dinosaurs known. It was originally estimated at in length and with a weight of 40 to 48 tonnes, the combined weight of six or seven adult male elephants. More recent estimates suggest a length of in length, but a comparable weight of 50 tonnes. The length of its skull is 70 centimetres, which is not too large. According to the paleontologist Luis Alcalá, this is because a larger head might have caused "Turiasaurus" to break its neck.
Tyrannosaurus
Most paleontologists accept that "Tyrannosaurus" was both an active predator and a scavenger like most large carnivores. By far the largest carnivore in its environment, "Tyrannosaurus rex" was most likely an apex predator, preying upon hadrosaurs, armored herbivores like ceratopsians and ankylosaurs, and possibly sauropods. A study in 2012 by Karl Bates and Peter Falkingham found that "Tyrannosaurus" had the most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal that has ever lived, finding an adult "Tyrannosaurus" could have exerted 35,000 to 57,000 N (7,868 to 12,814 lbf) of force in the back teeth. Even higher estimates were made by Mason B. Meers in 2003. This allowed it to crush bones during repetitive biting and fully consume the carcasses of large dinosaurs. Stephan Lautenschlager and colleagues calculated that "Tyrannosaurus" was capable of a maximum jaw gape of around 80 degrees, a necessary adaptation for a wide range of jaw angles to power the creature's strong bite.
Achillobator
Achillobator ( ) is a dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived roughly 93 to 80 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia, in Asia. It was among the largest dromaeosaurs; the holotype and only known individual of "Achillobator" is estimated at long. "Achillobator" was a moderately-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore. It would have been an active predator, hunting with the enlarged, sickle-shaped claw on the second toe.
St. Louis Museum
A museum specimen of particular note was a fossil, the Zeuglodon, which the Complete Guide to the St. Louis Museum called "the greatest fossil in the world." The Zeuglodon was discovered in 1848 in a field in Alabama. After it was extricated from the rock in which it was found, Dr. Koch purchased the fossil for the St. Louis Museum. The fossilized animal was amphibious and resembled a whale, alligator, and serpent. Only one other fossil of this animal was known to exist at the time, which was owned by the King of Prussia. Previously a Mastodon fossil was the largest one discovered, at 20 feet. The Zeuglodon measured 96 feet. Though some doubted the authenticity of the specimen, Professor Joseph Leidy, M.D. of the University of Pennsylvania and Curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and Professor Silliman of Yale College both attested to the authenticity of the fossil.
Titanoboa: Monster Snake
From a fossil bed deep within Colombia's Cerrejón coal mine emerges "Titanoboa", the largest snake ever found. This Paleocene reptile, from the epoch following the dinosaurs' demise, stretches our concept of what a snake can be. At , this mega snake was longer than a school bus and was at the top of the monster-eat-monster food chain. Organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Smithsonian Channel, the Florida Museum of Natural History, and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, "Titanoboa: Monster Snake" features a life-size—and incredibly life-like—model of the prehistoric creature as it swallows a crocodile whole. Featuring compelling text and video, the exhibition is an amazing look at a lost world and the incredible animals that inhabited it. Until 2004, no one knew what lived in the South American tropics during the Paleocene epoch (65.5 to 56 million years ago). Then, a student on a research expedition uncovered something remarkable, the first glimpse of a long-forgotten group of animals, with "Titanoboa" among them, a 60 million-year-old-beast that was able to crush and devour massive prehistoric crocodiles. For the team of paleontologists, finding "Titanoboa" was a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. This reptile, along with other significant fossils unearthed in the Cerrejón coal mine, provide the first glimpse of the earliest known rainforest.The documentary received 59% at Rotten Tomatoes.
World's Largest Dinosaur
Some facts about the World's largest dinosaur from the fact sheet available at the Drumheller Information Center:
Purussaurus
"Purussaurus" is one of the largest known crocodyliformes ever to have existed. Three other extinct crocodyliformes, "Sarcosuchus", "Deinosuchus", and "Rhamphosuchus" had similar body sizes. "Sarcosuchus" and "Deinosuchus" had similar proportions, but both were geologically much older, dating from the Early and Late Cretaceous, respectively. One study also indicates that "Purussaurus" may have been heavier than either "Sarcosuchus" or "Deinosuchus," as it had a much broader, shorter snout and this would require a thicker, stronger neck to support the larger head. "Rhamphosuchus" lived around the same time as "Purussaurus", but was slightly smaller, had a more gharial-like snout and lived in India. During the summer of 2005, a Franco-Peruvian expedition (the Fitzcarrald expedition) found new fossils of "Purussaurus" in the Peruvian Amazon (600 km from Lima).
Brachiosaurus
The type specimen of "B. altithorax" is still the most complete specimen, and only a few other specimens are thought to belong to the genus, making it one of the rarer sauropods of the Morrison Formation. It is regarded as a high browser, possibly cropping or nipping vegetation as high as off the ground. Unlike other sauropods, it was unsuited for rearing on its hindlimbs. It has been used as an example of a dinosaur that was most likely ectothermic because of its large size and the corresponding need for sufficient forage, but more recent research suggests it was warm-blooded. Among the most iconic and initially thought to be one of the largest dinosaurs, "Brachiosaurus" has appeared in popular culture, notably in the 1993 film "Jurassic Park".
Austroraptor
Austroraptor ( ) is an extinct genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period in what is now modern Argentina. "Austroraptor" was a medium sized, moderately-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to long. Its length makes "Austroraptor" one of the largest dromaeosaurids known, with only "Achillobator", "Dakotaraptor", and "Utahraptor" approaching or surpassing it in length. It is the largest dromaeosaur to be discovered in the Southern Hemisphere. Particularly notable about the taxon were its relatively short forearms, much shorter in proportion when compared to the majority of the members of its group.
Zhucheng
On 31 December 2008, palaeontologists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of Chinese Academy of Sciences announced they have unearthed 7,600 dinosaur fossils since March 2008 around Zhucheng. The latest sites to be discovered are near the towns of Longdu, Shunwang, Jiayue and Zhigou. The palaeontologists believe they have found one of the biggest sites of dinosaur remains from a massive excavation pit. The fossilized bones date to the late Cretaceous period just prior to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The findings also include the remains of a 20-meter (66 ft) hadrosaurid, a record size for the duck-billed dinosaur. A fossilized skull of a large ceratopsian was also found along with bones which belong to club-tailed ankylosaurs.
Barosaurus
More recently, more vertebrae and a pelvis were recovered in South Dakota. This material (SDSM 25210 and 25331) is stored in the collection of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City.
In 2007, paleontologist David Evans was flying to the U.S. Badlands when he discovered reference to a "Barosaurus" skeleton (ROM 3670) in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, where he had recently become a curator. Earl Douglass had excavated this specimen at the Carnegie Quarry in the early 20th century; the ROM acquired it in a 1962 trade with the Carnegie Museum. The specimen was never exhibited and remained in storage until its rediscovery by David Evans 45 years later. He returned to Toronto and searched the storage areas and found many fragments, large and small, of the skeleton. It is now a centrepiece of the ROM's dinosaur exhibit, in the James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs. At almost 27.5 metres (90 feet) long, the specimen is the largest dinosaur ever to be mounted in Canada. The specimen is about 40% complete. As a skull of "Barosaurus" has never been found, the ROM specimen wears the head of a "Diplodocus." Each bone is mounted on a separate armature so that it can be removed from the skeleton for study and then replaced without disturbing the rest of the skeleton. (See video "Dino Workshop" at reference.) In the rush to put the dinosaur on exhibit within ten weeks of its delivery to Research Casting International in 2500 pieces, not all of the skeletal fragments were mounted. In addition, more bones labeled ROM 3670 are still being found in storage. In future, more may be added to the specimen and it may turn out to be the most complete known.' (See video "Dino Assembly" at reference.) The ROM specimen is nicknamed "Gordo." John McIntosh believes that the ROM's skeleton is the same individual represented by four neck vertebrae labelled "CM 1198" in the collection of the Carnegie Museum.
Spinosauridae
Spinosauridae (meaning "spined lizards") is a family of megalosauroidean theropod dinosaurs. The genus "Spinosaurus", from which the family, subfamily, and tribe borrow their names, is the largest terrestrial predator known from the fossil record, and likely reached lengths of 15 m (49 ft) or more. Most spinosaurids lived during the Cretaceous Period, with possible origins in the Late Jurassic, and fossils of them have been recovered worldwide, including in Africa, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia, although none have been formally named from the latter continent.
Sauropodomorpha
Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had long necks and tails, were quadrupedal, and became the largest animals to ever walk the Earth. The "prosauropods", which preceded the sauropods, were smaller and were often able to walk on two legs. The sauropodomorphs were the dominant terrestrial herbivores throughout much of the Mesozoic Era, from their origins in the mid-Triassic (approximately 230 Ma) until their decline and extinction at the end of the Cretaceous (approximately 66 Ma).
Tyrannosaurus
Sue Hendrickson, an amateur paleontologist, discovered the most complete (approximately 85%) and largest "Tyrannosaurus" skeleton in the Hell Creek Formation on August 12, 1990. The specimen Sue, named after the discoverer, was the object of a legal battle over its ownership. In 1997, the litigation was settled in favor of Maurice Williams, the original land owner. The fossil collection was purchased by the Field Museum of Natural History at auction for $7.6 million, making it the most expensive dinosaur skeleton to date. From 1998 to 1999, Field Museum of Natural History staff spent over 25,000 hours taking the rock off the bones. The bones were then shipped to New Jersey where the mount was constructed, then shipped with the bones back to Chicago for the final assembly. The mounted skeleton opened to the public on May 17, 2000 in the Field Museum of Natural History. A study of this specimen's fossilized bones showed that Sue reached full size at age 19 and died at age 28 years, the longest estimated life of any tyrannosaur known.
Carcharodontosauridae
Carcharodontosaurids (from the Greek καρχαροδοντόσαυρος, "carcharodontósauros": "shark-toothed lizards") were a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. In 1931 Ernst Stromer named Carcharodontosauridae as a family, which, in modern paleontology, indicates a clade within Carnosauria. Carcharodontosaurids included some of the largest land predators ever known: "Giganotosaurus", "Mapusaurus", "Carcharodontosaurus", and "Tyrannotitan" all rivaled or slightly exceeded "Tyrannosaurus" in length. A 2015 paper by Christophe Hendrickx and colleagues gives a maximum length estimate of 14 meters (46 feet) for the largest carcharodontosaurids, while the smallest carcharodontosaurids were estimated to have been at least 6 meters (20 feet) long.
Dreadnoughtus
Dreadnoughtus is a genus of giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur containing a single species, Dreadnoughtus schrani. "D. schrani" is known from two partial skeletons discovered in Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian; 84–66 Ma) rocks of the Cerro Fortaleza Formation in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is one of the largest of all known terrestrial vertebrates, possessing the greatest mass of any land animal that can be calculated with reasonable certainty. "D. schrani" is known from a more complete skeleton than any other gigantic titanosaurian.
Dromaeosaurinae
All North American and Asian dromaeosaurine dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous were generally small, no more than long, in "Dromaeosaurus" and "Adasaurus". However, among the dromaeosaurines were the largest dromaeosaurs ever; "Dakotaraptor" was ~ long, "Achillobator" , and "Utahraptor" up to ~.
Huanghetitan
A second species, "H. ruyangensis", was described in 2007 from the Aptian-Albian Haoling Formation of Ruyang County, China (Henan Province). A recent cladistic analysis has found that this species is (or more likely) not related to "H. liujiaxiaensis" and even requires a new genus name. It is known from a partial vertebral column and several ribs, the size of which (the largest approaches 3 m (10 ft)) indicate it had among the deepest body cavities of any known dinosaur. This second species, along with its local relatives "Daxiatitan" and "Ruyangosaurus", is one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found in Asia, and possibly one of the largest in the world.
History of paleontology in the United States
The next year, 1979, two hikers found a series of gigantic articulated vertebrae fossils near San Ysidro. They reported the remains to David Gilette of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. Gillette led an expedition into the region and used cutting edge technology to locate the remains while they were still entombed in sandstone. The team excavated a massive quarry and gradually recovered a significant portion of the rear half of a diplodocid sauropod dinosaur. In 1991 this dinosaur was formally described as the new genus "Seismosaurus" and estimated to be the longest dinosaur known to science at long.
Museum of the Rockies
Apart from housing one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils in the world and the largest in the United States, the museum is also home to one of the world's largest "Tyrannosaurus" skulls (MOR 008) – narrowly surpassing that of the Chicago Field Museum's specimen, Sue. The museum's Siebel Dinosaur Complex, designed by curator Horner, is home to one of the first identified female dinosaurs, an ovulating "T. rex". Curator Horner, who served as an adviser to the "Jurassic Park" films, was one of the lead scientists involved in the 2005 discovery of soft tissue remains in the thigh bone of a "Tyrannosaurus", which were later brought to the museum. The museum has also been involved in a number of other finds, including a baby "Triceratops" in Jordan, Montana, in 2006, and "Yoshi's Trike" (MOR 3027), a large "Triceratops" specimen with 125 cm long horns, discovered in 2010.
Dinosaur World (Arkansas)
Dinosaur World, earlier known as John Agar's Land of Kong and " Farwell's Dinosaur Park", was a tourist attraction in Beaver, Arkansas. It was a theme park covering , which contained a hundred life-size sculptures of dinosaurs, cavemen, and other prehistoric creatures as well as the world's largest Noah's Ark Mural painted by local artist Will Johnson. The park closed in 2005. It was the largest dinosaur park in the world.
Largest prehistoric animals
The largest-known ichthyosaur was "Shastasaurus sikanniensis" at in length. In April 2018, paleontologists announced the discovery of a previously unknown ichthyosaur that may have reached lengths of 26 m (85 ft)- 30 m (100 feet long) making it one of the largest animals known, rivaling the Blue Whale in size. Another giant Ichthyosaur was found as well and it was larger than Lilstock Monster, possibly surpassing Blue Whale in size.The heavy built "Moradisaurus grandis", with a length of , is the largest known captorhinid.
Ultrasaurus
A collection of bones discovered by Jim Jensen, of Brigham Young University, at the Dry Mesa Quarry, Colorado were originally believed to belong to the largest dinosaur ever. Jensen informally called this supposedly new dinosaur "Ultrasaurus", and this name was widely used by the press and in scientific literature as a "nomen nudum" (informal name lacking an actual scientific description).
Dakotaraptor
"Dakotaraptor" was about long, which makes it one of the largest dromaeosaurids known. It had long arms with one of the lower arm bones showing quill knobs, demonstrating that it was most likely feathered. It also had long rear legs with a very large sickle claw on the second toe; this claw could be used to kill relatively large plant-eating dinosaurs. It lived in the same time and area as many iconic late Cretaceous dinosaurs such as "Ankylosaurus", "Triceratops", and "Tyrannosaurus".
Shanghai Natural History Museum
The largest exhibit is a 140-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton of "Mamenchisaurus hochuanensis" from Sichuan Province, which is over four stories high. The museum also has two mummies and several human embryos.
Carcharodontosaurinae
Carcharodontosaurinae (from the Greek καρχαροδοντόσαυρος, "carcharodontósauros": "jagged-toothed lizards") was group of theropod dinosaurs known from the Aptian to the Cenomanian/Turonian of Africa and South America. The clade was first named in 2007 by Steve Brusatte and Paul Sereno. The subfamily consists of gigantic derived carcharodontosaurids, among the largest theropod dinosaurs known, comparable in size to "Tyrannosaurus". Carcharodontosaurinae is defined as the least inclusive clade containing "Carcharodontosaurus" and "Giganotosaurus". Within this subfamily is the tribe Giganotosaurini. This tribe was originally its own subfamily, Giganotosaurinae, which was erected by Rodolfo Coria and Philip J. Currie in 2006. In order to keep this clade within the subfamily Carcharodontosaurinae, Brusatte and Sereno renamed and reranked it as a tribe. Giganotosaurini is defined as all carcharodontosaurines that are closer to "Giganotosaurus" than to "Carcharodontosaurus".
Gojirasaurus
"Gojirasaurus" is one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs known from the Triassic Period, almost the size of its relative, the large coelophysoid "Dilophosaurus". The size of its tibia was 469 mm, which was comparable to that of "Liliensternus" (409 mm) and "Dilophosaurus" (555 mm), suggesting that it was a large triassic dinosaur, estimated to be about 5.5 m (18 ft) long, which can be extrapolated to a weight of approximately 150–200 kg (330–440 lb). Carpenter (1997) pointed to features of the pelvis and ankle suggesting that this was an immature individual, and could therefore have grown to even a larger size in maturity. Specimen NMMNH P-4666, which consists of only a pubis, was referred to this genus by Hunt in 1994.
Nyasasaurus
Nyasasaurus (meaning "Lake Nyasa lizard") is an extinct genus of dinosauriform reptile from the Middle Triassic Manda Formation of Tanzania that appears to be the earliest known dinosaur. The type species "Nyasasaurus parringtoni" was first described in 1956 in the doctoral thesis of English paleontologist Alan J. Charig, but it was not formally described until 2013. Previously, the oldest record of dinosaurs was from Argentina and dated back to the late Carnian stage, about 231.4 million years ago. "Nyasasaurus" comes from a deposit that dates back to the Anisian stage, meaning that it predates other early dinosaurs by about 12 million years.
Douglas A. Lawson
When the discovery of the fossils was reported in 1975, "Quetzalcoatlus" was the largest flying creature known to have lived. A fellow researcher challenged Lawson's estimates of the dimensions of the wing architecture of "Quetzalcoatlus". However, Lawson responded by demonstrating that while inconsistent with those of modern-day birds, his estimates were consistent with extrapolations of other pterosaurs, such as "Pterodactylus antiquus". In 2010 the U.S. National Park Service described "Quetzalcoatlus" as the world's second-largest known flying creature.
Tyrannosaurus
"Tyrannosaurus rex" was one of the largest land carnivores of all time; the largest complete specimen, located at the Field Museum of Natural History under the name FMNH PR2081 and nicknamed Sue, measured long, and was tall at the hips, and according to the most recent studies estimated to have weighed between to when alive. Not every adult "Tyrannosaurus" specimen recovered is as big. Historically average adult mass estimates have varied widely over the years, from as low as , to more than , with most modern estimates ranging between and .
The neck of "Tyrannosaurus rex" formed a natural S-shaped curve like that of other theropods, but was short and muscular to support the massive head. The forelimbs had only two clawed fingers, along with an additional small metacarpal representing the remnant of a third digit. In contrast the hind limbs were among the longest in proportion to body size of any theropod. The tail was heavy and long, sometimes containing over forty vertebrae, in order to balance the massive head and torso and to provide space for massive locomotor muscles. To compensate for the immense bulk of the animal, many bones throughout the skeleton were hollowed, reducing its weight without significant loss of strength.
Two Medicine Dinosaur Center
The Two Medicine Dinosaur Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and educational institute located in Bynum, Montana that opened in 1995. It is part of the Montana Dinosaur Trail and home to a skeletal model of what is believed to be the world's largest dinosaur, a seismosaurus.
The center also houses the first baby dinosaur bones collected in North America - the original discovery reported by paleontologist John R. Horner.