What is the biggest fossil?
Sue (dinosaur)
Sue is the nickname given to FMNH PR 2081, which is the largest, most extensive and best preserved "Tyrannosaurus rex" specimen ever found, at over 90% recovered by bulk. It was discovered in August 1990, by Sue Hendrickson, an explorer and fossil collector, and was named after her. After ownership disputes were settled, the fossil was auctioned in October 1997, for US $8.3 million, the highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur fossil, and is now a permanent feature at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.
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.
Oxalaia
Oxalaia (in reference to the African deity "Oxalá") is a genus of spinosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now the Northeast Region of Brazil during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, sometime between 100.5 to 93.9 million years ago. Its only known fossils were found in 1999 on Cajual Island in the rocks of the Alcântara Formation, which is known for its abundance of fragmentary, isolated fossil specimens. The remains of "Oxalaia" were described in 2011 by Brazilian palaeontologist Alexander Kellner and colleagues, who assigned the specimens to a new genus containing one species, Oxalaia quilombensis. The species name refers to the Brazilian quilombo settlements. "Oxalaia quilombensis" is the eighth officially named theropod species from Brazil and the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered there. It is closely related to the African genus "Spinosaurus".
Largest organisms
The Permian era "Cotylorhynchus", from what is now the southern United States, probably was the largest of all synapsids (most of which became extinct 250 million years ago), at and 2 tonnes. The largest carnivorous synapsid was "Anteosaurus" from what is now South Africa during Middle Permian era. "Anteosaurus" was long, and weighed about .The largest living reptile, a representative of the order Crocodilia, is the saltwater crocodile ("Crocodylus porosus") of Southern Asia and Australia, with adult males being typically long. The largest confirmed saltwater crocodile on record was long, and weighed about . Unconfirmed reports of much larger crocodiles exist, but examinations of incomplete remains have never suggested a length greater than . Also, a living specimen estimated at and has been accepted by the Guinness Book of World Records. However, due to the difficulty of trapping and measuring a very large living crocodile, the accuracy of these dimensions has yet to be verified. A specimen named Lolong caught alive in the Philippines in 2011 (died February 2013) was found to have measured in length.
Pentaceratops
In 1929 Steinberg's son, George Fryer Sternberg, discovered specimen USNM V12002, a right squamosal. "Pentaceratops" proved to be a quite common fossil in the Fruitland and Kirtland formations. It has even been used as a guide fossil: the appearance of "Pentaceratops sternbergii" in the fossil record marks the end of the Judithian land vertebrate age and the start of the Kirtlandian. Subsequent finds include specimens MNA Pl. 1668, MNA Pl. 1747, NMMNH P-27468 and USNM 2416, partial skeletons with skull; YPM 1229, a skeleton lacking the skull; UALP 13342 and UKVP 16100, skulls; UNM B-1701, USNM 12741, USNM 12743, USNM 8604, SMP VP-1596, SMP VP-1488, SMP VP-1500 and SMP VP-1712, fragmentary skulls. Apart from the San Juan Basin finds, a juvenile specimen of "Pentaceratops", SDMNH 43470, has been reported from the Williams Fork Formation of Colorado in 2006.
Sometimes the identification of a specimen as "Pentaceratops" has proven to be highly contentious. In 1998 Thomas Lehman described OMNH 10165, a very large skull and its associated skeleton found in New Mexico in 1941, and presently on display at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, as being the largest "Pentaceratops" exemplar known, with the distinction of having produced the largest known skull of any land vertebrate. However, in 2011, the skeleton was renamed as a separate genus, "Titanoceratops", due to its more derived morphology closer to "Triceratops" and lack of unique characters shared with "Pentaceratops" proper.
Cerrejón Formation
Remains of the giant boid "Titanoboa cerrejonensis" have been found from a gray claystone layer underlying Coal Seam 90 in the Cerrejón mine. "Titanoboa" is the largest known snake to have ever existed, reaching an estimated length of . "Eunectes", the anaconda, is likely to be a close living analogue of "Titanoboa".
University of Nebraska State Museum
The Elephant Hall is famous for having one of the largest mammoth skeletons in the world. Among them, the museum hosts the largest Columbian mammoth fossil in the world, known as "Archie." It is also the state fossil of Nebraska. Along with the mammoth skeletons, the Hall displays skeletons and models of elephants of various eras. By comparing the structure of the skeletons and the elephants' teeth, visitors can learn about the evolutionary history of the elephants.
Zhao Xijin
In 2008, Zhao was involved in and in charge of a dig in Zhucheng that consisted of digging out a "980 ft-long pit". The site has unearthed more than 7,600 fossils through Xijin's work. It is believed to be the largest such site in the world. The majority of the fossils found appeared to be from the Late Cretaceous period.
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.
Dinosaur size
The sauropods were the largest and heaviest dinosaurs. For much of the dinosaur era, the smallest sauropods were larger than anything else in their habitat, and the largest were an order of magnitude more massive than anything else that has since walked the Earth. Giant prehistoric mammals such as "Paraceratherium" and "Palaeoloxodon" (the largest land mammals ever) were dwarfed by the giant sauropods, and only modern whales surpass them in size. There are several proposed advantages for the large size of sauropods, including protection from predation, reduction of energy use, and longevity, but it may be that the most important advantage was dietary. Large animals are more efficient at digestion than small animals, because food spends more time in their digestive systems. This also permits them to subsist on food with lower nutritive value than smaller animals. Sauropod remains are mostly found in rock formations interpreted as dry or seasonally dry, and the ability to eat large quantities of low-nutrient browse would have been advantageous in such environments.
Giant of Castelnau
The expression "Giant of Castelnau" refers to three bone fragments (a humerus, tibia, and femoral mid-shaft) discovered by Georges Vacher de Lapouge in 1890 in the sediment used to cover a Bronze Age burial tumulus, and then possibly dating back to the Neolithic. According to de Lapouge, the fossil bones may belong to one of the largest humans known to have existed. He estimated from the bone size that the human may have been about tall. No modern peer-reviewed study has been published about the alleged giant bone fragments.
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.
Yutyrannus
The holotype, ZCDM V5000, is the largest specimen, consisting of a nearly complete skeleton with skull, compressed on a slab, of an adult individual. The paratypes are the two other specimens: ZCDM V5001 consisting of a skeleton of a smaller individual and part of the same slab as the holotype; and ELDM V1001, a juvenile estimated to have been eight years younger than the holotype. The fossils are part of the collections of the Zhucheng Dinosaur Museum and the Erlianhaote Dinosaur Museum but have been prepared by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, under the guidance of Xu.
Ichthyosaur
In the early 20th century, ichthyosaur research was dominated by the German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene, who wrote an extensive series of articles, taking advantage of an easy access to the many specimens found in his country. The amount of anatomical data was hereby vastly increased. Von Huene also travelled widely abroad, describing many fossils from locations outside of Europe. During the 20th century, North America became an important source of new fossils. In 1905, the Saurian Expedition led by John Campbell Merriam of the University of California and financed by Annie Montague Alexander, found 25 specimens in central Nevada, which were under a shallow ocean during the Triassic. Several of these are now in the collection of the University of California Museum of Paleontology. Other specimens are embedded in the rock and visible at Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park in Nye County. In 1977, the Triassic ichthyosaur "Shonisaurus" became the state fossil of Nevada. Nevada is the only state to possess a skeleton of this 17-m-long (60-ft) extinct marine reptile. In 1992, Canadian ichthyologist Dr. Elizabeth Nicholls (curator of marine reptiles at the Royal Tyrrell Museum) uncovered the largest known specimen, a 23-m-long (75-ft) example, though this larger specimen was later reclassified as the related "Shastasaurus".
Atacama Giant
The Atacama Giant() is a large anthropomorphic geoglyph in the Atacama Desert, Chile. 
Located at "Cerro Unitas", this is the largest prehistoric anthropomorphic figure in the world with a length of , representing a deity for the local inhabitants from AD 1000 to 1400.
List of creatures in Primeval
"Eustreptospondylus" was the largest carnivorous dinosaur in Europe during the Jurassic Period, 150-145 mya. The ARC team encounters one that has come through an anomaly into a South African safari park.
It is brought into thei park, and is first seen disembowelling a rancher. Later, while attacking Danny Quinn, James Lester and Sophie, who were investigating the disappearances, a pride of lions distract and injure it. The creature escapes, followed by the lions; two of whom will be killed. It is then identified by Connor Temple, who was dealing with "Velociraptors" and giant crocodilians, and observed attacking hippos; it bites one but the hippo does not sustain much damage. The "Eustreptospondylus" then attacks the team once more, but a "Postosuchus" interferes and battles the dinosaur, killing it. The remains of the theropod are found later.
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.
Futalognkosaurus
Its fossils were found in the Neuquén province of Argentina in 2000, and were scientifically described in 2007. The genus name is derived from the local indigenous language Mapudungun and is pronounced foo-ta-logn-koh-sohr-us: "futa" means "giant" and "lognko" means "chief". It is based on three fossil specimens, yielding an estimated 70% of the skeleton in total. The fossil team described the find as "the most complete giant dinosaur known so far".
Cephalopod size
Heteromorph ammonites are known to have exceeded in length also, but since their shells were uncoiled to varying degrees, they were overall much smaller than the largest non-heteromorphs. The greatest lengths of all were reached by the orthocones of endocerid nautiloids such as "Cameroceras" and "Endoceras", which may have exceeded , although their maximum size is uncertain; while the largest well documented endocerid fossil is likely the 3-metre-long () shell fragment housed at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, there are published reports of even larger specimens. Teichert (1927) mentioned specimens up to long from the Middle Ordovician limestone of Estonia (Teichert & Kummel, 1960:2) and Frey (1995:72) gave a maximum shell length of for the group. On the subject of endocerid size, nautiloid specialist Rousseau H. Flower wrote:
Sirindhorn Museum
Dinosaur fossils were found by Phra Kru Vijitsahassakun, the abbot of Wat Sakawan, in 1994 at Phu Kum mountain ("Phu Kum Khao") in his omen. During next year Department of Mineral Resources researchers excavated the fossils and found that this place is the largest herbivorous dinosaur site in Thailand; most of the fossils belonging to sauropods from 120 million years ago.
Otavia
Otavia antiqua is an early sponge-like fossil found in Namibia in the Etosha National Park. It is claimed to be the oldest animal fossil, being found in rock aged between 760 and 550 million years ago. The genus was named after the Otavi group in which the fossils were found. The oldest fossils are prior to the Cryogenian glaciations, but the latest found were from the Nama group rocks which are from the Ediacaran period.
Darling Downs
The region has uncovered important megafauna fossil finds. The rich discoveries have lent weight to the theory that humans were not a factor in the extinction of the ancient megafauna species. Many of the fossils in the region date to the Pleistocene and include species such as Diprotodon optatum, the largest-ever marsupial.
Swabian Jura
Fossils can be found everywhere in the Swabian Jura. Many large and important fossils were found here. At Holzmaden, outside of Weilheim unter Teck, a small private museum, called Urwelt-Museum Hauff, provides visitors with the opportunity to "dig" for fossils in their shale deposits. The Urwelt-Museum Hauff houses the world's largest petrified crinoid (sea-lily) colony with a size of and an age of about 180 million years.
Cephalopod size
Cephalopods were at one time the largest of all organisms on Earth (Smith "et al.", 2016), and numerous species of comparable size to the largest present day squids are known from the fossil record, including enormous examples of ammonoids, belemnoids, nautiloids, orthoceratoids, teuthids, and vampyromorphids. In terms of mass, the largest of all known cephalopods were likely the giant shelled ammonoids and endocerid nautiloids (Teichert & Kummel, 1960:6), though perhaps still second to the largest living cephalopods when considering tissue mass alone (Vermeij, 2016).
Largest organisms
If considered singular entities, the largest organisms are clonal colonies which can spread over large areas. Pando, a clonal colony of the quaking aspen tree, is widely considered to be the largest such organism by mass. Even if such colonies are excluded, trees retain their dominance of this listing, with the giant sequoia being the most massive tree. In 2006 a huge clonal colony of "Posidonia oceanica" was discovered south of the island of Ibiza. At across, and estimated at around 100,000 years old, it may be one of the largest and oldest clonal colonies on Earth.
Reticulated python
The specimen once widely accepted as the largest-ever "accurately" measured snake, that being Colossus, a specimen kept at the Highland Park Zoo (now the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the 1950s and early 1960s, with a peak reported length of from a measurement in November 1956, was later shown to have been substantially shorter than previously reported. When Colossus died on April 14, 1963, its body was deposited in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. At that time, its skeleton was measured and found to be in total length, and the length of its fresh hide was measured as – both measurements being significantly shorter than what had been previously estimated in 1956. The hide tends to stretch from the skinning process, and thus be longer than the snake from which it came – e.g., by roughly 20–40% or more. The previous reports had been constructed by combining partial measurements with estimations to compensate for "kinks", since it is virtually impossible to completely straighten an extremely large live python. Because of these issues, a 2012 journal article concluded that "Colossus was neither the longest snake nor the heaviest snake ever maintained in captivity." Too large to be preserved with formaldehyde and then stored in alcohol, the specimen was instead prepared as a disarticulated skeleton. The hide was sent to a laboratory to be tanned, but it was either lost or destroyed, and now only the skull and selected vertebrae and ribs remain in the museum's collection. There is considerable confusion in the literature over whether Colossus was male or female (females tend to be larger).
Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum
The main attraction for tourists and enthusiasts is the 10½ metre long and 4 metre high Tyrannosaurus rex (T.Rex) skeleton. In addition, the Museum houses Australia's largest collection of fossils in amber, fossil dinosaur eggs, and a large collection of opalised fossils.
Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument
The largest cave in the monument is the long Milodón Cave. It was discovered in 1895 by Hermann Eberhard, German explorer of Patagonia. He found a large, seemingly fresh piece of skin of an unidentified animal. In 1896 the cave was explored by Otto Nordenskjöld and later it was recognized that the skin belonged to Mylodon – an extinct animal which died 10,200–13,560 years ago.
Amphibian
The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a microhylid frog from New Guinea ("Paedophryne amauensis") first discovered in 2012. It has an average length of and is part of a genus that contains four of the world's ten smallest frog species. The largest living amphibian is the Chinese giant salamander ("Andrias davidianus") but this is a great deal smaller than the largest amphibian that ever existed—the extinct "Prionosuchus", a crocodile-like temnospondyl dating to 270 million years ago from the middle Permian of Brazil! The largest frog is the African Goliath frog ("Conraua goliath"), which can reach and weigh .
Beneski Museum of Natural History
Today the Museum houses roughly 200,000 objects, including the College's historic Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet of more than 1,700 slabs containing dinosaur footprints, one of the largest in the world - and one largely collected by Hitchcock himself. The collection also includes the world-famous "Noah's Raven," tracks discovered in South Hadley, Massachusetts in 1802 that constitute the first dinosaur fossil to be collected in North America — 40 years before dinosaurs were even recognized as a distinct fossil group. Researchers from all over the world come to use the Museum's collections in their work.
Quercylurus
Quercylurus major is an extinct nimravid carnivoran, or "false sabre-tooth," from the early Oligocene of France. Its fossils are found from Early Oligocene strata in Quercy. "Q. major". was possibly the largest nimravid ever known, as its fossils suggest it was similar in size to the modern-day brown bear and was scansorial. It was very muscular, walked on plantigrade (flat-footed). So far, there is only one described species within this genus - "Q. major".
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.
Colossal squid
The colossal squid ("Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni", from Greek "mesos" (middle), "onycho" (claw, nail), and "teuthis" (squid)), sometimes called the Antarctic squid or giant cranch squid, is believed to be the largest squid species in terms of mass. It is the only known member of the genus "Mesonychoteuthis". It is known from only a few specimens, and current estimates put its maximum size at long and weighing possibly up to , based on analysis of smaller and immature specimens, making it the largest-known invertebrate.
Michigan fossil hunting
The oldest living fossils found in Michigan have been found in the Negaunee iron formation near Palmer, MI at the Empire Mine. The fossils are of a primitive, filament-like ancestor of algae. Scientists have determined the fossils to be 2.1 billion years old. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/Oldest_Fossil_304663_7.pdf They are found in thin layers in one section of the mine. The fossil is known as Grypania cf. spiralis which is preserved as a corkscrew-shaped, or spaghetti like marks that look like random O's, C's and 6's.Many of Michigan’s fossil sites are located on lake shores. An example is Point Betsie, near the small town of Frankfort, Michigan. Erosion from wave action sometimes damages the fossils but fossils such as corals or bryzoans can be found here.
Largest prehistoric animals
Some of the largest-known phytosaurs include "Redondasaurus" with a length of 6.4 meters and "Smilosuchus" with a size of 6.8 meters.
Many large sauropods are still unnamed and may rival the current record holders.The largest-known thyreophoran was "Ankylosaurus" at in length and in weight. "Stegosaurus" was also long but around tonnes in weight.
Dinosaur
The sauropods were the largest and heaviest dinosaurs. For much of the dinosaur era, the smallest sauropods were larger than anything else in their habitat, and the largest were an order of magnitude more massive than anything else that has since walked the Earth. Giant prehistoric mammals such as "Paraceratherium" (the largest land mammal ever) were dwarfed by the giant sauropods, and only modern whales approach or surpass them in size. There are several proposed advantages for the large size of sauropods, including protection from predation, reduction of energy use, and longevity, but it may be that the most important advantage was dietary. Large animals are more efficient at digestion than small animals, because food spends more time in their digestive systems. This also permits them to subsist on food with lower nutritive value than smaller animals. Sauropod remains are mostly found in rock formations interpreted as dry or seasonally dry, and the ability to eat large quantities of low-nutrient browse would have been advantageous in such environments.
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument near Hagerman, Idaho, contains the largest concentration of Hagerman horse fossils in North America. The fossil horses for which the monument is famous have been found in only one locale in the northern portion of the monument called the Hagerman Horse Quarry. The monument is internationally significant because it protects the world's richest known fossil deposits from the late Pliocene epoch, 3.5 million years ago. These plants and animals represent the last glimpse of that time that existed before the Ice Age, and the earliest appearances of modern flora and fauna. This is also significant because the fossils present during this period of the Pliocene represent species which were alive during the early stages in the evolution of man, albeit on a different continent. The fossil beds were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1975.
Many other species are also found in the fossil record, including mastodons, saber-toothed cats, and bone-crushing dogs (Borophaginae), as well as various species of fish, frog, vole and beaver.
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.
History of paleontology
In 1808, Cuvier identified a fossil found in Maastricht as a giant marine reptile that would later be named "Mosasaurus". He also identified, from a drawing, another fossil found in Bavaria as a flying reptile and named it "Pterodactylus". He speculated, based on the strata in which these fossils were found, that large reptiles had lived prior to what he was calling "the age of mammals". Cuvier's speculation would be supported by a series of finds that would be made in Great Britain over the course of the next two decades. Mary Anning, a professional fossil collector since age eleven, collected the fossils of a number of marine reptiles from the Jurassic marine strata at Lyme Regis. These included the first ichthyosaur skeleton to be recognized as such, which was collected in 1811, and the first two plesiosaur skeletons ever found in 1821 and 1823. Many of her discoveries would be described scientifically by the geologists William Conybeare, Henry De la Beche, and William Buckland. It was Anning who observed that stony objects known as "bezoar stones" were often found in the abdominal region of ichthyosaur skeletons, and she noted that if such stones were broken open they often contained fossilized fish bones and scales as well as sometimes bones from small ichthyosaurs. This led her to suggest to Buckland that they were fossilized feces, which he named coprolites, and which he used to better understand ancient food chains.
Field River
In 1992 the fossil remains of the world's largest marsupial, the Diprotodon, were discovered on the bank of the river by Trevor Westlake. The fossil, which is at least 70,000 years old, is now in the care of the South Australian Museum.
Largest prehistoric animals
There is much controversy over the largest-known of these reptiles. Fossil remains of a pliosaur nicknamed as "Predator X" have been discovered and excavated from Norway in 2008. This pliosaur has been estimated at in length and in weight. However, in 2002, a team of paleontologists in Mexico discovered the remains of a pliosaur nicknamed as "Monster of Aramberri", which is also estimated at in length. This species is, however, claimed to be a juvenile and has been attacked by a larger pliosaur. Some media sources claimed that "Monster of Aramberri" was a "Liopleurodon" but its species is unconfirmed thus far.
Another very large pliosaur was "Pliosaurus macromerus", known from a single incomplete mandible. It may have reached , assuming the skull was about 17% of the total body length.
Zhucheng
Zhucheng was upgraded to a county-level city in 1987 and is administered as a provincial-level economic development district, with jurisdiction over 20 towns (镇, "zhen"):Zhucheng has been an important site for dinosaur excavation since 1960. The local community is known to use calcium rich fossils for traditional village remedies used to treat muscle cramps and other minor ailments. The world's largest hadrosaurid fossil was found in Zhucheng in the 1980s and is on display in the local museum. Scientists have collected more than of fossils since 1960. The city has also been a place for smuggling of dinosaur bones; in January 2008, Australia returned hundreds of kilograms of Chinese dinosaur fossils, including dinosaur fossil eggs. These fossils were recovered during a sting operation carried out on warehouses and cargo containers.
Campanile giganteum
†Campanile giganteum is a species of exceptionally large fossil sea snail, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Campanilidae. This species dates from the Eocene epoch. With a shell length of 40 to 60 cm  this is considered to be one of the largest (lengthwise) species of shelled gastropod that ever lived. It is found mostly in the Paris Basin.
Gastornis
"Gastornis" fossils are known from across western Europe, the western United States, and central China. The earliest (Paleocene) fossils all come from Europe, and it is likely that the genus originated there. Europe in this epoch was an island continent, and "Gastornis" was the largest terrestrial tetrapod of the landmass. This offers parallels with the malagasy elephant birds, herbivorous birds that were similarly the largest land animals in the isolated landmass of Madagascar, in spite of otherwise mammalian megafauna.
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.
Largest organisms
The largest living amphibian is the Chinese giant salamander ("Andrias davidianus"). The maximum size of this nearly human-sized river-dweller is and almost . Before amniotes became the dominant tetrapods, several giant amphibian proto-tetrapods existed and were certainly the dominant animals in their ecosystems. The largest known was the crocodile-like "Prionosuchus", which reached a length of .
The largest known species of sea sponge is the giant barrel sponge, "Xestospongia muta". These massively built sponges can reach in height and can be of about the same number of feet across at the thickest part of the "body". Some of these creatures have been estimated to be over 2,400 years of age.
Megafauna
Since tetrapods (first reptiles, later mammals) returned to the sea in the Late Permian, they have dominated the top end of the marine body size range, due to the more efficient intake of oxygen possible using lungs. The ancestors of cetaceans are believed to have been the semiaquatic pakicetids, no larger than wolves, of about 53 million years (Ma) ago. By 40 Ma ago, cetaceans had attained a length of 20 m or more in "Basilosaurus", an elongated, serpentine whale that differed from modern whales in many respects and was not ancestral to them. Following this, the evolution of large body size in cetaceans appears to have come to a temporary halt, and then to have backtracked, although the available fossil records are limited. However, in the period from 31 Ma ago (in the Oligocene) to the present, cetaceans underwent a significantly more rapid sustained increase in body mass (a rate of increase in "body mass" of a factor of 3.2 per million years) than achieved by any group of terrestrial mammals. This trend led to the largest animal of all time, the modern blue whale. Several reasons for the more rapid evolution of large body size in cetaceans are possible. Fewer biomechanical constraints on increases in body size may be associated with suspension in water as opposed to standing against the force of gravity, and with swimming movements as opposed to terrestrial locomotion. Also, the greater heat capacity and thermal conductivity of water compared to air may increase the thermoregulatory advantage of large body size in marine endotherms, although diminishing returns apply.
Life
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossil-containing rock formations and sedimentary layers (strata) is known as the "fossil record". A preserved specimen is called a fossil if it is older than the arbitrary date of 10,000 years ago. Hence, fossils range in age from the youngest at the start of the Holocene Epoch to the oldest from the Archaean Eon, up to 3.4 billion years old.
Carodnia
"Carodnia" is the largest mammal known from the Paleocene of South America. It was heavily built and had large canines and cheek teeth with a crested pattern like the uintatheres to which it can be related. In life, it would have been a tapir-sized animal. It bore strong resemblances to dinoceratans, although without tusks or ossicones.
Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum
The warehouse-sized museum contains a mixture of fossilized skeletons and cast replicas. The replicas include a juvenile "Triceratops", a full-sized mastodon skeleton, the largest hadrosaur leg ever found, and the world's largest ice age bison skull. Real bones displayed include the head of a metoposaur, and once included the world's largest four-tusked mastodon skull.
Rahonavis
The fossilized remains of "Rahonavis" were first recovered in 1995 by a joint expedition of SUNY and the University of Antananarivo, near the village of Berivotra. Most geological formations in this area are covered in dense grass, making identification of fossils difficult. However, when a portion of hillside was exposed by fire, the remains of a giant titanosaur were revealed. It was during the excavation of this find that paleontologists discovered the bones of "Rahonavis" among the bones of the much larger dinosaur. "Rahonavis" is known from this single specimen, consisting of the hind limbs, trunk, portions of the tail (all of which were found articulated), as well as portions of the wing and shoulder bones. "Rahonavis" was one-fifth larger than the closely related "Archaeopteryx", about the size of a modern raven.
Pinacosaurus
The holotype, AMNH 6523, was found in a layer of the Djadokhta Formation, dating from the Campanian. It consists of a partially crushed skull, lower jaws, the first two neck vertebrae, and dermal bones collected in 1923. The skull is still the largest known of the genus.
"Pinacosaurus" is the best known Asian or worldwide ankylosaur with numerous specimens having been discovered. From the original Flaming Cliffs or Shabarakh Usu several other fossils have been reported including ZPAL MgD II/1: a nearly complete skeleton; ZPAL MgD II/9: a postcranial skeleton; ZPAL MgD II/31: the handle of a tail club; and PIN 3780/3: a skull; PIN 614: a nearly complete postcranial skeleton (= "Syrmosaurus viminocaudus"); and possibly MPC 100/1305, a postcranial skeleton erroneously described in 2011 as belonging to "Saichania". At another site, Alag Teeg, entire bonebeds have been uncovered of juvenile animals. Soviet-Mongolian expeditions in 1969 and 1970 reported thirty skeletons. Mongolian-Japanese expeditions added another thirty between 1993 and 1998. Forty were reported by Canadian expeditions between 2001 and 2006. The remains have not been all dug up and it is possible the reports partly pertain to the same material. In Inner Mongolia at Bayan Mandahu, the Canada−China Dinosaur Project in 1987, 1988, and 1990 found specimens IVPP V16853: a skull with cervical halfrings; IVPP V16283: a partial skull, IVPP V16854: a nearly complete skeleton; IVPP V16346: a partial skull; and IVPP V16855: a skeleton. Other, as yet undescribed material included two finds of several juveniles huddled together, evidently killed by a sandstorm (Jerzykiewicz, 1993; Burns et al., 2011). Whereas ankylosaur skeletons have often been preserved laying on their back, most "Pinacosaurus" juveniles are found on their belly in a resting position, with the legs tucked in.
Because of the many finds, in principle the entire juvenile skeleton is known. "Pinacosaurus" especially provides information on the build of the ankylosaurian skull, as in the juveniles the head armour has not yet fused with the skull proper and the sutures of the various elements are still visible. Modern studies have not yet fully covered the abundance of data. A well-preserved juvenile skull was described by Teresa Maryańska in 1971 and 1977. In 2003, Robert Hill studied the juvenile specimen IGM 100/1014 (Hill, 2003). In 2011, Currie published a study on the hand and foot, body parts often incompletely known with other ankylosaurs. The same year Michael Burns dedicated an article to four juveniles from the Bayan Mandahu (). Also in 2011, the postcranial skeleton MPC 100/1305 was described in detail, though at the time referred to "Saichania". Most recently, Michael Burns and colleagues described and illustrated the original Alag Teeg material from the Soviet-Mongolian expeditions in 1969 and 1970.
Carbonemys
In 2005, the holotype specimen was discovered in the Cerrejón coal mine by a North Carolina State University doctoral student named Edwin Cadena. It had a shell that measured about , making it one of the world's largest turtles.
Cesar-Ranchería Basin
The basin is of importance for hosting the worldwide tenth biggest and largest coal mine of Latin America, Cerrejón. The coals are mined from the Paleocene Cerrejón Formation, that also has provided several important paleontological finds, among others "Titanoboa cerrejonensis", with an estimated length of and a weight of , the biggest snake discovered to date, the giant crocodylians "Cerrejonisuchus improcerus", "Anthracosuchus balrogus" and "Acherontisuchus guajiraensis", and the large turtles "Carbonemys cofrinii", "Puentemys mushaisaensis" and "Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki". Various genera of flora, as "Aerofructus dillhoffi", "Menispermites cerrejonensis", "M. guajiraensis", "Montrichardia aquatica", "Petrocardium cerrejonense and P. wayuuorum", "Stephania palaeosudamericana" and "Ulmoidicarpum tupperi" among others, have been found in the Cerrejón Formation, the sediments of which are interpreted as representing the first Neotropic forest in the world. Mean annual temperature has been estimated to have been between and yearly precipitation ranging from per year.
Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology
The Hall of Footprints, unlike the former, it is the largest section with a diversity of fossil footprints collections that are on display in the United States of America. The display has a variety of collections such as track-ways and tracks that are made dinosaurs, camels, spiders and elephants. There are more of skeletons of camel, giant bear-dog, whose skeletons are all complete. These skeletons are mounted on top of it track-way for fossil. The display of all these fossil collections puts the museum on top in the track collection as the most fundamental legacy of life history store.
Krukowski Quarry
The most prominent fossils found at the quarry are scyphozoan medusae (true jellyfish) ranging in diameter from 50-70 centimeters, the largest jellyfish in the fossil record; these were initially discovered in 1998 by Dan Damrow, who published with paleontologist James Hagadorn. Paleontologists have also discovered slug- and mollusk-like climactichnites, as well as fossilized trackways of anthropods (including protichnites and diplichnites), and stromatolites including elephant skin, sand-chips, and domal sand stromatolites.
Brachiosaurus
Riggs in the first instance tried to limit public awareness of the find. When reading a lecture to the inhabitants of Grand Junction, illustrated by lantern slides, on 27 July 1901, he explained the general evolution of dinosaurs and the exploration methods of museum field crews but did not mention that he had just found a spectacular specimen. He feared that teams of other institutions might soon learn of the discovery and take away the best of the remaining fossils. A week later, his host Bradbury published an article in the local "Grand Junction News" announcing the find of one of the largest dinosaurs ever. On 14 August, the "New York Times" brought the story. At the time sauropod dinosaurs appealed to the public because of their great size, often exaggerated by sensationalist newspapers. Riggs in his publications played into this by emphasizing the enormous magnitude of "Brachiosaurus". 
"Brachiosaurus" has been called one of the most iconic dinosaurs, but most popular depictions are based on the African species "B. brancai" which has since been moved to its own genus, "Giraffatitan". A main belt asteroid, , was named 9954 Brachiosaurus in honor of the genus in 1991. "Brachiosaurus" was featured in the 1993 movie "Jurassic Park", as the first computer generated dinosaur shown. These effects were considered ground-breaking at the time, and the awe of the movie's characters upon seeing the dinosaur for the first time was mirrored by audiences. The movements of the movie's "Brachiosaurus" were based on the gait of a giraffe combined with the mass of an elephant. A scene later in the movie used an animatronic head and neck, for when a "Brachiosaurus" interacts with human characters. The digital model of "Brachiosaurus" used in "Jurassic Park" later became the starting point for the ronto models in the 1997 special edition of the film "".
Timeline of United States discoveries
Torosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period about 70 million years ago in what is now North America. Torosaurus had an enormous head that measured 8 feet (2.5 m) in length. Its skull is one of the largest know up to date, no other land animal has ever had a skull larger than Torosaurus. Torosaurus frill made up about one-half the total skull length. The first fossils of Torosaurus were discovered in 1889, in Wyoming by John Bell Hatcher. The American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh would later name the specimen "Torosaurus latus", in recognition of the bull-like size of its skull and its large eyebrow horns. Ever since, the specimen has been in display at the Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut.
Coryphodon
Since the first fossil was found in Wyoming, the taxonomy of "Coryphodon" and its family have been in disarray — five described genera have been synonymized with "Coryphodon" and thirty-five proposed species have been declared invalid.
"Coryphodon" evolved from the Late Paleocene "C. proterus", one of the largest species found and the only one known from the Clarkforkian NALMA. The body size then decreased until "C. eocaenus" appears at the Clarkforkian-Wasatchian transition (55.4 Ma, near the PETM), from where "Coryphodon" evolved into the large species "C. radians". "C. radians" in its turn evolved into two contemporaneous species that appear in the Early Eocene, the small "C. armatus" and the very large "C. lobatus". These changes in size are thought to be linked to global climate change, with the size minimum in the "Coryphodon" lineage occurring shortly after Paleocene-Eocene boundary.
Pliosauroidea
In August 2006, palaeontologists of the University of Oslo discovered the first remains of a pliosaur on Norwegian soil. The remains were described as "very well preserved, as well as being unique in their completeness". The large animal was determined to be a new species of "Pliosaurus". In the summer of 2008, the fossil remains of the huge pliosaur were dug up from the permafrost on Svalbard, a Norwegian island close to the North Pole. The excavation of the find is documented in the 2009 History television special Predator X.
On 26 October 2009, palaeontologists reported the discovery of potentially the largest pliosauroid yet found. Found in cliffs near Weymouth, Dorset, on Britain's Jurassic coast, the fossil had a skull length of 6 feet 5 inches (2 meters). Palaeontologist Richard Forrest told the BBC: "I had heard rumours that something big was turning up. But seeing this thing in the flesh, so to speak, is just jaw dropping. It is simply enormous." It was determined that the specimen belonged to a new species that scientists named "Pliosaurus kevani".
Aegirocassis
Aegirocassis is an extinct genus of anomalocarid arthropod belonging to the family Hurdiidae that lived 480 million years ago during the early Ordovician. It is known by a single species, Aegirocassis benmoulai. A fossil of "A. benmoulai" from the Fezouata biota, Morocco was discovered by and named after Mohamed Ben Moula, a fossil collector who recognized its rare characteristics and brought it to the notice of a professional paleontologist, Peter Van Roy, at the Ghent University in Belgium. 
Van Roy initiated scientific study of the fossil, the earliest known of a "giant" filter-feeder discovered to date. "Aegirocassis" is considered to have evolved from early predatory anomalocarids. At the time of its existence, "A. benmoulai" was possibly the largest animal in the world. The length was described as exceeding in the scientific journal "Nature".
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.
Gargantuavis
Gargantuavis is a genus of extinct avialan stem-birds containing the single species Gargantuavis philoinos. "G. philoinos" lived during the late Cretaceous period in what is now southern France and northern Spain. Its fossils were discovered in several formations, which has been dated between 73.5 and 71.5 million years old. "Gargantuavis" is the largest known bird of the Mesozoic. The few known bones suggests a size between the cassowary and the ostrich. A study based on the circumference of the femur gives a mass of like modern ostriches. Given its mass "Gargantuavis" was probably flightless. Its femur shows that it was a graviportal form rather than a cursorial bird. Many aspects of its biology are unknown including its diet (the skull has not yet been found). The ecological niche of "Gargantuavis" in its ecosystem is also mysterious because it coexisted with large predators like abelisaurids theropods. In any case, and contrary to older assumptions, "Gargantuavis" shows that the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs was not a necessary condition for the emergence of giant terrestrial birds. It is possible that some of the fossil eggs found in the region, usually attributed to non-avialan dinosaurs, actually belong to this bird.
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.
Sauroposeidon
The first fossils classified as "Sauroposeidon" were four neck vertebrae discovered in rural Oklahoma, not far from the Texas border, in a claystone outcrop that dates the fossils to about 110 million years ago (mya). This falls within the Early Cretaceous Period, specifically between the Aptian and Albian epochs. These vertebrae were discovered in May 1994 at the Antlers Formation in Atoka County, Oklahoma by dog trainer Bobby Cross and secured by Dr. Richard Cifelli and a team from the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in May 1994 and August 1994. Initially the fossils were believed to be simply too large to be the remains of an animal, and due to the state of preservation, believed to be tree trunks. In fact, they are the longest such bones known in dinosaurs. Thus, the vertebrae were stored until 1999, when Dr. Cifelli gave them to a graduate student, Matt Wedel, to analyze as part of a project. Upon their realization of the find's significance, they issued a press release in October 1999, followed by official publication of their findings in the "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology" in March 2000. The new species was named "S. proteles", and the holotype is OMNH 53062.
Eurypterid
The eurypterids include the largest known arthopods ever to have lived. The largest, "Jaekelopterus", reached in length. Eurypterids were not uniformly large and most species were less than long; the smallest eurypterids, "Alkenopterus" and "Eocarcinosoma", were only long. Eurypterid fossils have been recovered from every continent. A majority of fossils are from fossil sites in North America and Europe because the group lived primarily in the waters around and within the ancient supercontinent of Euramerica. Only a handful of eurypterid groups spread beyond the confines of Euramerica and a few genera, such as "Adelophthalmus" and "Pterygotus", achieved a cosmopolitan distribution with fossils being found worldwide.
Basilosaurus
Measuring , "Basilosaurus cetoides" is one of the largest-known animals to exist from K/T extinction event 66 million years ago (mya) to around 15 million years ago when modern cetaceans began to reach enormous sizes. "B. isis" is slightly smaller than "B. cetoides".
Dinosaur size
There were larger dinosaurs, but knowledge of them is based entirely on a small number of fragmentary fossils. Most of the largest herbivorous specimens on record were discovered in the 1970s or later, and include the massive titanosaur "Argentinosaurus huinculensis", which is the largest dinosaur known from uncontroversial evidence, estimated to have been and long. Some of the longest sauropods were those with exceptionally long, whip-like tails, such as the "Diplodocus hallorum" (formerly "Seismosaurus") and the 33- to 35-metre-long (108–115 ft) "Supersaurus". The tallest was the "Brachiosaurus".
Karst Living Museum
The area of the Karst Living Museum is an abundant archaeological site with various findings of fossils, animal bones and ancient artefacts. In the cave "Ludvikova jama", in the vicinity of Orlek, animal fossil bones from the Pleistocene period were found. The bones belong to a wolverine ("Gulo gulo"), the biggest marten, living today in the arctic and subarctic areas of the globe. Other prehistoric sites are the cave "Jama v Partu pri Ogradi", the rock of Krnavica and the rock-shelter Malenca, where the remains of earthenware and coal were found, together to faunal remains of sheep, goats and wild animals (deer). In the cave "Jama v sežanski gmajni" pieces of earthware from the late Roman period were found.
Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni
Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni is an extinct species of crocodile from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of the Turkana Basin in Kenya. It is closely related to the species "Crocodylus anthropophagus", which lived during the same time in Tanzania. "C. thorbjarnarsoni" could be the largest known true crocodile, with the largest skull found indicating a possible total length up to . It may have been a predator of early hominins. "Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni" was named by Christopher Brochu and Glenn Storrs in 2012 in honor of John Thorbjarnarson, a conservationist who worked to protect endangered crocodilians.
Gigantophis
Gigantophis garstini is an extinct giant snake. Before the Paleocene constrictor genus "Titanoboa" was described from Colombia in 2009, "Gigantophis" was regarded as the largest snake ever recorded. "Gigantophis" lived about 40 million years ago during the Eocene epoch, and in the Paleogene Period within the northern Sahara, where Egypt and Algeria are now located.
Deinosuchus
"Deinosuchus" was present on both sides of the Western Interior Seaway. Specimens have been described from 10 U.S. states: Utah, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, New Jersey, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and North Carolina. David Schwimmer has said "Deinosuchus" fossils have been found in South Carolina and Delaware as well, but none of them from those two states have been formally described. A "Deinosuchus" osteoderm from the San Carlos Formation was also reported in 2006, so the giant crocodilian's range may have included parts of northern Mexico. There is also a report describing a possible "Deinosuchus" scute from Colorado. "Deinosuchus" fossils are most abundant in the Gulf Coastal Plain region of Georgia, near the Alabama border. All known specimens of "Deinosuchus" were found in rocks dated to the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. The oldest examples of this genus lived approximately 82 Ma, and the youngest lived around 73 Ma.
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.
Titanosaur
Titanosaurs were widespread. In December 2011, Argentine scientists announced titanosaur fossils had been found on Antarctica—meaning that titanosaur fossils have been found on all continents. Four well-preserved skeletons of a titanosaur species were found in Italy, a discovery first reported on 2 May 2006. They are especially numerous in the southern continents (then part of the supercontinent of Gondwana). Australia had titanosaurs around 96 million years ago: fossils have been discovered in Queensland of a creature around long. Remains have also been discovered in New Zealand. One of the largest ever titanosaur footprints was discovered in the Gobi desert in 2016. One of the oldest remains of this group was found from the Valley of the Dinosaurs, Paraíba state of Brazil, representing a 136-million-year-old subadult individual.
Field Museum of Natural History
In 2015, it became public that an employee had defrauded the museum of $900,000 over a seven-year period to 2014.On May 17, 2000, the Field Museum unveiled "Sue", the largest "T. rex" specimen discovered. Sue has a length of more than , stands tall at the hips, and has been estimated at between as of 2018. The specimen is estimated to be 67 million years old. The fossil was named after the person who discovered it, Sue Hendrickson, and is commonly referred to as female, although the dinosaur's actual gender is unknown. The original skull is not mounted to the body due to the difficulties in examining the specimen 13 feet off the ground, and for nominal aesthetic reasons (the replica does not require a steel support under the mandible). An examination of the bones revealed that Sue died at age 28, a record for the fossilized remains of a "T. rex" until Trix was found in 2013. In December 2018 after revisions of the skeletal assembly were made to reflect new concepts of Sue's structure, display of the skeleton was moved into a new suite in "The Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet".
Fossil
Fossils vary in size from one-micrometre (1 µm) bacteria to dinosaurs and trees, many meters long and weighing many tons. A fossil normally preserves only a portion of the deceased organism, usually that portion that was partially mineralized during life, such as the bones and teeth of vertebrates, or the chitinous or calcareous exoskeletons of invertebrates. Fossils may also consist of the marks left behind by the organism while it was alive, such as animal tracks or feces (coprolites). These types of fossil are called trace fossils or "ichnofossils", as opposed to "body fossils". Some fossils are biochemical and are called "chemofossils" or biosignatures.
Squalicorax
The world's largest and most complete semiarticulated fossil of "Squalicorax" was found in 2014 in stores of the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden, Manitoba, in Canada, where it is now displayed. It measures more than 3 m in length.
Riverbluff Cave
The Riverbluff Cave is a paleontological site discovered in the United States, near Springfield, Missouri. The entrance is filled with stalactites, stalagmites and columns. The cave is about 830,000 years old (making it the oldest known fossil cave site in the US) and 610 m long, featuring Pleistocene fossils, notably of the short-faced bear ("Artcodus simus") the largest bear species on the Earth (about 6 feet tall at the shoulder and weighing 1,400 pounds).
Dinosaur
There were larger dinosaurs, but knowledge of them is based entirely on a small number of fragmentary fossils. Most of the largest herbivorous specimens on record were discovered in the 1970s or later, and include the massive "Argentinosaurus", which may have weighed to  kilograms (90 to 110 short tons) and reached length of ; some of the longest were the long "Diplodocus hallorum" (formerly "Seismosaurus"), the long "Supersaurus" and long "Patagotitan"; and the tallest, the tall "Sauroposeidon", which could have reached a sixth-floor window. The heaviest and longest dinosaur may have been "Amphicoelias fragillimus", known only from a now lost partial vertebral neural arch described in 1878. Extrapolating from the illustration of this bone, the animal may have been long and weighed kg ( lb). However, as no further evidence of sauropods of this size has been found, and the discoverer, Edward Cope, had made typographic errors before, it is likely to have been an extreme overestimation.
Coyote
The oldest fossils that fall within the range of the modern coyote date to 0.74–0.85 Ma (million years) in Hamilton Cave, West Virginia; 0.73 Ma in Irvington, California; 0.35–0.48 Ma in Porcupine Cave, Colorado and in Cumberland Cave, Pennsylvania. Modern coyotes arose 1,000 years after the Quaternary extinction event. Compared to their modern Holocene counterparts, Pleistocene coyotes ("C.l. orcutti") were larger and more robust, likely in response to larger competitors and prey. Pleistocene coyotes were likely more specialized carnivores than their descendants, as their teeth were more adapted to shearing meat, showing fewer grinding surfaces suited for processing vegetation. Their reduction in size occurred within 1000 years of the Quaternary extinction event, when their large prey died out. Furthermore, Pleistocene coyotes were unable to exploit the big-game hunting niche left vacant after the extinction of the dire wolf ("C.dirus"), as it was rapidly filled by gray wolves, which likely actively killed off the large coyotes, with natural selection favoring the modern gracile morph.
Specimens of Tyrannosaurus
Stan is the nickname given to a fossil found in Hell Creek Formation, South Dakota, close to Buffalo in 1987 by Stan Sacrison, who also discovered the "Tyrannosaurus" specimen nicknamed "Duffy". The original fossils are now housed at Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc. center. It is a well known specimen, and one of the most complete, with 199 bones recovered. About 30 casts of the original fossil have been sold worldwide, each for a price of about $100,000. Stan's mount measures 11.8 meters long, while Scott Hartman's restoration yields an 11.3 meter long estimate. He attributes the difference to the awkward spacing the mounted skeleton shows between its cervical vertebrae and its cranium. There is an extended misconception that Stan is 10.9 meters long, but that was just an (admitted) typo committed by Hartman in one of his works. According to new studies Stan's weight has been estimated between and , being the average estimate.
Museum of Natural Sciences
In 1878, the largest find of Iguanodon fossils to date occurred in a coal mine at Bernissart, in Hainaut, Belgium. At least 38 Iguanodon ("Iguanodon bernissartensis") skeletons were uncovered, at a depth of , of which 30 were brought back to the museum and put on display. They were mounted by Louis Dollo and set the standard that was followed for over a century. Found alongside the "Iguanodon" skeletons were the remains of plants, fish, and other reptiles, including the crocodyliform "Bernissartia".
Giant squid
The giant squid is the second-largest mollusc and one of the largest of all extant invertebrates. It is only exceeded by the colossal squid, "Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni", which may have a mantle nearly twice as long. Several extinct cephalopods, such as the Cretaceous vampyromorphid "Tusoteuthis", the Cretaceous coleoid "Yezoteuthis", and the Ordovician nautiloid "Cameroceras" may have grown even larger.
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".
Jehol Biota
The Jehol Biota has produced fossils of plant macro- and microfossils, including the earliest angiosperms, charophytes and dinocysts, snails (gastropods), clams (bivalves), superabundant aquatic arthropods called conchostracans, ostracods, shrimps, insects, spiders, fish, frogs and salamanders (amphibians), turtles, choristoderes, lizards (squamates), pterosaurs, and dinosaurs including feathered dinosaurs, the largest mammals known from the Mesozoic, and a great diversity of birds including the earliest advanced birds, and the smallest and largest birds known from the Mesozoic.
Crystal skull
The "Smithsonian Skull", Catalogue No. A562841-0 in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, was mailed to the Smithsonian Institution anonymously in 1992, and was claimed to be an Aztec object by its donor and was purportedly from the collection of Porfirio Diaz. It is the largest of the skulls, weighing and is high. It was carved using carborundum, a modern abrasive. It has been displayed as a modern fake at the National Museum of Natural History.
Turtle
Turtle fossils of hatchling and nestling size have been documented in the scientific literature. Paleontologists from North Carolina State University have found the fossilized remains of the world's largest turtle in a coal mine in Colombia. The specimen named as "Carbonemys cofrinii" is around 60 million years old and nearly 2.4 m (8 ft) long.
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".
Frank Garcia (paleontologist)
In 1979, Garcia worked as chief investigator for the Smithsonian Institution, collecting prehistoric sea cows, whales, and dolphins.
In June 1983, Garcia discovered of one of biggest fossil finds in North America. Later, fossil experts described it to be one of the most significant paleontological finds discovering 1.5 million year old prehistoric graveyard of what was once a bed of a prehistoric river that had attracted a wide range of animals.
American Museum of Natural History
Most of the museum's collections of mammalian and dinosaur fossils remain hidden from public view. They are kept in numerous storage areas located deep within the museum complex. Among these, the most significant storage facility is the ten story Childs Frick Building which stands within an inner courtyard of the museum. During construction of the Frick, giant cranes were employed to lift steel beams directly from the street, over the roof, and into the courtyard, in order to ensure that the classic museum façade remained undisturbed. The predicted great weight of the fossil bones led designers to add special steel reinforcement to the building's framework, as it now houses the largest collection of fossil mammals and dinosaurs in the world. These collections occupy the basement and lower seven floors of the Frick Building, while the top three floors contain laboratories and offices. It is inside this particular building that many of the museum's intensive research programs into vertebrate paleontology are carried out.
Columbian mammoth
The Columbian mammoth is the state fossil of Washington and South Carolina. Nebraska's state fossil is "Archie", a Columbian mammoth specimen found in the state in 1922. "Archie" is currently on display at Elephant Hall in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is the largest mounted mammoth specimen in the United States.
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.
Cymbospondylus
"Cymbospondylus" was one of the largest ichthyosaurs, with fossils ranging from long. It was also one of the least fish-like of the ichthyosaurs, lacking a dorsal fin and fluked tail. It did, however, have an elongated snout like other ichthyosaurs.
Largest organisms
Both the largest mollusks and the largest of all invertebrates (in terms of mass) are the largest squids. The colossal squid ("Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni") is projected to be the largest invertebrate. Current estimates put its maximum size at long and , based on analysis of smaller specimens. In 2007, authorities in New Zealand announced the capture of the largest known colossal squid specimen. It was initially thought to be and . It was later measured at long and in weight. The mantle was long when measured.
Cajual Island
The island is an important Brazilian paleontological site, where fossils of animals such as "Spinosaurus" and "Sigilmassasaurus" were found, and also such plants as conifers and ferns. The finds include the remains of the largest carnivorous dinosaur in Brazil. Traces of the maxillary and nostril of the specimen were found. Known as "Oxalaia quilombensis", the species is part of the family of dinosaurs known as Spinosauridae, with elongated skulls and spines along the back.
Dinosaur size
One of the tallest and heaviest dinosaurs known from good skeletons is "Giraffatitan brancai" (previously classified as a species of "Brachiosaurus"). Its remains were discovered in Tanzania between 1907 and 1912. Bones from several similar-sized individuals were incorporated into the skeleton now mounted and on display at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin; this mount is tall and long, and would have belonged to an animal that weighed between . One of the longest complete dinosaurs is the "Diplodocus", which was discovered in Wyoming in the United States and displayed in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Natural History Museum in 1907.
Titanoboa
By comparing the sizes and shapes of its fossilized vertebrae to those of extant snakes, researchers estimated that the largest individuals of "T. cerrejonensis" found had a total length around and weighed about .
In 2009, the fossils of 28 individuals of "T. cerrejonensis" were found in the Cerrejón Formation of the coal mines of Cerrejón in La Guajira, Colombia. Before this discovery, few fossils of Paleocene-epoch vertebrates had been found in ancient tropical environments of South America. The snake was discovered on an expedition by a team of international scientists led by Jonathan Bloch, a University of Florida vertebrate paleontologist, and Carlos Jaramillo, a paleobotanist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.
The name "Titanoboa" means "titanic boa". The species epithet "cerrejonensis" refers to the Cerrejón coal mine and the Cerrejón Formation, in which the fossils have been found.
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.
Gray Fossil Site
The Gray Fossil Site is also the world's largest tapir fossil find and is yielding new and rare discoveries such as the most complete skeleton of "Teleoceras" (an ancient rhinoceros) yet found in eastern North America, a new species of red panda that marks only the second record of this animal in North America (the first red panda fossils found in North America come from the state of Washington), and a newly identified species of an ancient plant-eating badger.
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.
Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve
Studies have shown that the Mistaken Point biota represents the oldest Ediacaran fossils known anywhere, in fact the oldest large and architecturally complex organisms in Earth history. The fossil sites along the shore within the reserve were inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list on July 17, 2016.