Dinosaur Discovery
Scientists believe they have found a new species of a large herbivorous dinosaur from Argentina, named Futalognkosaurus dukei from approximately 80 million years ago.
Believed to be one of the largest dinosaurs ever found, this herbivore has a different neck structure and it is because of this that it appears to represent a previously unknown species of dinosaur. It was excavated from a site in Patagonia, Argentina, after numerous specimens from the first fossils found in the year 2000.This huge dinosaur amazed palaeontologists and scientists alike, with a measurement of 32 metres in height (estimated) during its lifetime.
Its name (pronounced "fuu-tah-long-koh-saw-us) is somewhat unusual, coming from a combination of the Mapuche Indian words for "giant chief of the lizards" and Duke Energy Argentina; the company which provided the financial means for the excavation to start. The dinosaurs' bones have been found over a number of years since 2000, on the banks of the Lake Barreales in the province of Neuquen and is one of the most complete fossil of a large dinosaur in the world. The rest of its remains have thought to have washed down into a river, helping to create even more fossils by providing a wall for dead animals and plants to accumulate and fossilise over time.
"This is on of the biggest in the world and one of the most complete of these giants that exist" Jorge Calvo explains, director of the palaeontology centre at the National University of Comahue, Argentina, who also is the primary author of a study on these dinosaurs.
The climate of the region was thought to be warm and humid, with lustrous forests covering a lot of the land in the Late Cretaceous period. But now the area has become a land derived from vegetation and refered to as "steppe-like".
Its name (pronounced "fuu-tah-long-koh-saw-us) is somewhat unusual, coming from a combination of the Mapuche Indian words for "giant chief of the lizards" and Duke Energy Argentina; the company which provided the financial means for the excavation to start. The dinosaurs' bones have been found over a number of years since 2000, on the banks of the Lake Barreales in the province of Neuquen and is one of the most complete fossil of a large dinosaur in the world. The rest of its remains have thought to have washed down into a river, helping to create even more fossils by providing a wall for dead animals and plants to accumulate and fossilise over time.
"This is on of the biggest in the world and one of the most complete of these giants that exist" Jorge Calvo explains, director of the palaeontology centre at the National University of Comahue, Argentina, who also is the primary author of a study on these dinosaurs.
The climate of the region was thought to be warm and humid, with lustrous forests covering a lot of the land in the Late Cretaceous period. But now the area has become a land derived from vegetation and refered to as "steppe-like".