Scientists have announced the discovery of a massive, long-necked dinosaur that rocked the Earth in Argentina some 77 million years ago.
The discovery of remarkably complete and well-preserved fossil remains of the dinosaur was made in sourthern Patagonia, according to Reuters.
The dino weighed 65 tons (59,300 kg) and measured 85 feet long (26 meters) with a neck 37 feet long (11.3 meters) and a tail 30 feet long (8.7 meters).
Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara of Drexel University in Philadelphia, who found the dinosaur and led the effort for its excavation and analysis, said researchers calculated its weight on the basis of the bones in its upper arm and thigh.
Dreadnoughtus weighed more than a herd of African elephants, or an adult sperm whale. It was also seven times as much as the dinosaur T.rex, and made the North American "menace" that lived during the Cretaceous Period look tiny.
Lacovara said that Dreadnoughtus had "the largest reliably calculable weight" of any known land animal - dinosaur or otherwise, according to Reuters.
The only other dinosaur that might have been larger is the Argentinosaurus, but Lacovara said its scant remains don't allow a reliable weight estimate. In May, a group of scientists estimated that it weighed 90 tons (82,107 kg), which would make it the biggest if true.
Though Dreadnoughtus was a vegetarian, its size and tail could clobber any predator crazy enough to attack it.
"We decided on Dreadnoughtus - meaning 'fearer of nothing' - because when you're as big as this thing was, you're probably not afraid of too much," said one of the researchers, Matt Lamanna of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, according to Reuters.
"Not to mention we thought it was time a plant-eating dinosaur got a badass name. Those are usually reserved for the meat-eaters," said Lamanna, a paleontologist.
Dreadnoughtus most likely spent most of its time eating massive quantities of plants to fuel its large body. It was a member of a group of dinosaurs called titanosaurs that are believed to have been the largest dinosaurs ever.
Scientists found 45 percent of the skeleton of Dreadnoughtus, including most of the important bones. Lamanna called it "a treasure trove of information on one of the most successful, but least understood, dinosaur groups of all."
Two specimens of Dreadnoughtus were found side by side, one larger than the other. The scary thought is that they believe the larger one wasn't fully grown yet.
"It appears that both individuals died and were buried rapidly after a river flooded and broke through its natural levee, turning the ground into a soupy mixture of sand, mud and water," Lacovara said.
The study appears in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.
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