Supersized Sauropods!
If you've ever been to the Cal Poly Humboldt Natural History Museum you might remember having stood next to the fossil cast of the giant leg bone of Ultrasaurus, a huge sauropod belonging to the group of the largest of all terrestrial dinosaurs - the titanosaurs. Titanosaurs vary in size but many are so huge they go beyond our imaginations. These gentle giants were vegetarian and possessed really long tails and necks with a small head - think Brontosaurus. Sauropods lived for over 120 million years during the Cretaceous period and have been found on every continent. Ultrasaurus macintosh was unearthed in the Morrison formation of Colorado in the 1960s and was the largest ever found at that time reaching a length of 100 ft and could stretch its neck to reach plants over 45 ft high. Then, in 2009, Dreadnoughtus was discovered. Several skeletons of this species were found in the Patagonia area of Chile and became the biggest ever accurately measured at 65 tons. Although fossils of large titanosaurus are incomplete and exact measurements are difficult, later in 2014, perhaps the largest titanosaur ever found was discovered again in the Patagonia area named Patagotitan ramorum. The size of this "titan" amazed even the most experienced paleontologist with a world record length of 125 ft. and a mass of over ten elephants. The necks of these behemoths could stretch 60 to 70 ft tall! The most famous specimen had over 84 bones and was the most complete titanosaur ever found. Another species Argentinosaurus is sometimes ranked as the largest. Regardless of which species is the biggest titantosaur, another chapter unfolds in the supersized sauropods story as two more have been discovered in a place where no dinosaurs had been discovered before - the northeast area of China. Although many dinosaurs have been discovered in China, these two new "titans", Silutitan which reaches about 65 ft long and Hamititan estimated to reach 55 ft long, add to the amazing world of paleontology and reveals that there are still many new discoveries to be unearthed.
For more information on sauropods and the latest discoveries: