back to article DREADNOUGHTUS: The 65-TON DINO that could crumple up a T-Rex like a paper cup

Paleontologists report that they have discovered the remains of a new type of dinosaur - dubbed Dreadnoughtus schrani - that tipped the scales at 65 tons, was 85 feet long ... and was still growing fast when it died. Dreadnoughtus schrani Dreadnoughtus schrani - our weightiest dinosaur to date Kenneth Lacovara, associate …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I have to wonder what exactly this beast ate!

    Too big to live on grass and leaves. Also too big I would think to support itself labor-intensively digesting cellulose-rich wood from small trees. There must have been some big-ass soft plants in prehistoric Patagonia!!!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I have to wonder what exactly this beast ate!

      Nah. It was capable of photosynthesis.

    2. Chris G

      Re: I have to wonder what exactly this beast ate!

      I am guessing something this big would have had a multi chambered stomach like a cow so that it had an ongoing fermentation process to efficiently obtain maximum benefit from the roughage it probably ate. These things must have contributed a goodly amount of methane to the atmosphere.

      1. Captain DaFt

        Re: I have to wonder what exactly this beast ate!

        A personal theory of mine is that some dinosaurs must have had a gut flora similar to that of termites that helped break down cellulose into something more manageable.

      2. DanceMan

        Re: goodly amount of methane

        Never mind the tail. If its about to fart, RUN!

    3. Fungus Bob

      Re: I have to wonder what exactly this beast ate!

      I would think it ate whatever it wanted...

      1. Yugguy

        Re: I have to wonder what exactly this beast ate!

        How it got itself off the ground is a wonder too.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    >"including most of its neck"

    According to that illustration and the linked article, they only have a fraction of its neck - two out of maybe ten or eleven vertebrae. They have most of its back (dorsal) and tail (caudal) vertebrae, but the neck (cervical) series is so incomplete that they're only guessing its structure based on the known anatomy of the similar Futalognkosaurus specimen.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: >"including most of its neck"

      Yes, that was my thought too. Likewise, the colour coding of the leg bones in the image doesn't match with "recovered...all four limbs." no matter whether you assume white or grey is recovered bones.

      1. dan1980

        Re: >"including most of its neck"

        "Yes, that was my thought too."

        Really? My thought was "that'd make some large piles".

    2. MrT

      Re: Futalognkosaurus...

      ... ahh, the hot-dog of sauropods - if you think that's big, you should have seen the onions and squeezy mustard bottle...

  3. ElectricFox
    Boffin

    Wow, 185.0642 pieces of Linguine, or 2.8104 Double Decker busses weighing in at 15.5 kJubs

    But only 0.1874 times the length of a Brontosaurus according to the Register's automated online standards conversion calculator, which puts a single Brontosaurus at 15 Double Decker busses (just under 140 Metres). I know that the Brontosaurus is a misclasification of Dinosaur, but the Wikipedia redirect puts this species (Apatosaurus) as averaging 23 Metres in Length. Could there be a reference I'm missing here, or is there a fundemental problem with the Register SI measurement system. Such a glaring error would surely throw the commentard community into chaos!

  4. Chris G

    Wow!

    "just under 140 Metres" 140 metres is 459.3 feet long, that, is one hell of an animal and goes a little beyong the bounds of exaggeration.

    1. Adam 1

      Re: Wow!

      Still too frightened to go near the snakes and spiders in Australia though.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Long neck?

    or was it the Danny Devito of the dinosaur world? That might shave off a few tons.

    1. JCitizen
      Windows

      Re: Long neck?

      If it had a short neck it would be so badly out of balance, it would be dragging its tail so bad it would scrape it off, and it would have to sit on it every time it stopped. I'm pretty sure they are guessing pretty close at the estimation. Besides, there aren't too many variations in sauropods or other basic dinosaur designs.

  6. Anomalous Cowshed

    As big as a house

    Claims that a dinosaur had been found which was as big as a house have elicited comments from prestigious scientific associations in England

    North Wigan Palaeontology Society

    "This is clearly an uninteresting find. An animal the size of a 2-bed terraced house in Wigan is nothing to get excited about."

    Her Majesty's Paleontologist Royal

    "If the claims of its being as large as one of one's houses are true, then this is a most unprecedented discovery which will revolutionise the field of paleontology."

    Tetley Chair of Paleontology, University of Michael Mouse, London

    "That beast must have been capable of drinking a lot of tea! I wonder what size teacups they had in those days..."

  7. Winkypop Silver badge
    Alert

    3D scans of bones available for download

    Honey!

    We'll need a bigger 3D printer!

  8. Nigel 11

    Defense

    My first thought was that the tail isn't long enough to defend the neck, so all a (large) predator would have to do is get around the front and rip its throat out. (Proof, perhaps, that carnivorous dinosaurs did not hunt in teams? )

    But then I remembered a film of Giraffes fighting ... I guess that the front end was maybe just as capable of being used in self-defense as the back end.

  9. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    That's nothing

    That chicken wouldn't stand a chance against a Yamatosaur...

  10. Bunbury

    Dreadnoughtexceptafloodus surely?

    Not clear why it's assumed that these would be predator proof? Surely bigger Tyrannosaurs in a pack would be likely. Yes we've found no fossils but there must be some evolutionary spur to get to this size.

    Given the small numbers of fossils that we have of the really big herbivours and their predators there are probably all sorts of gaps.

    1. Marcus Aurelius

      Re: Dreadnoughtexceptafloodus surely?

      The problem with large meat eaters is that they require a lot of ground to survive on each.

      I would have suggested that this thing would be much more vulnerable to a smaller pack animal; whatever the dinosaur equivalent of a hyena is. Sure there would be a few injuries taking it down, but all the smaller animals have to do is severely injure it and then wait for infection to do the rest.

    2. JCitizen
      Windows

      Re: Dreadnoughtexceptafloodus surely?

      @ bunbury - I wouldn't call it predator proof - but when you see what happens to lions, tigers, and bears that think they'er bigger than their britches - any good herbivore can kick it's arse any day! Only the sick or the slow get eaten, even in these times.

  11. Naughtyhorse
    Coat

    65 tonne dildo!!!!!11!!!1

    ...ahhh

    as you were

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon