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The giant that looked down on all Europe

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prezhorusin04:
The giant that looked down on all Europe
Mark Henderson, Science Editor
December 22, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2514900,00.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,377421,00.jpg
Graphic of the Beast....

New dinosaur is unearthed in spain
It was as heavy as six elephants

A huge new species of dinosaur discovered in Spain is the largest land animal ever known to have lived in Europe and one of the biggest creatures to have walked the Earth, research has shown.
 
Turiasaurus riodevensis, which belongs to an entirely new group of the long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs known as the sauropods, weighed between 40 and 48 tonnes when fully grown, and measured between 30 and 37 metres (100-120ft) from head to tail.

The upper bone from its front leg — the humerus — was as tall as an adult man, and the claw on its hoof was as long as a rugby ball. It was as heavy as six or seven elephants.

The ancient titan, which lived about 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic period, would have dwarfed the biggest dinosaur previously known to have lived in Europe — a brachiosaur from the Isle of Wight that is thought to have grown to about 20m. Even so, analysis of its bones show that it was still smaller than the world’s largest known land animal — Argentinosaurus, a sauropod from South America that grew to 35m and 100 tonnes. Paralititan stromeri, an African sauropod, was shorter at up to 30m, but heavier at a maximum of 75 tonnes.

The remains of the new beast were unearthed near Teruel, 145km (90 miles) from Valencia in Spain. The rocks around the town are among the most fertile sources of dinosaur fossils in Europe, and a dig devoted to finding new species was started there in 2003 by a team led by Luis Alcalá, a palaeontologist at the Dinopolis museum in the town.

“It was discovered because we were looking for it,” Dr Alcalá said yesterday. “It wasn’t exactly because we were looking for a huge, enormous dinosaur, but we had planned the dig to look for new dinosaurs around Teruel because it is such a good place to find fossils.

“This is one of the most massive dinosaurs ever found, and the largest in Europe.”

Turiasaurus riodevensis takes its name from Turia, a name for the Teruel region used since the 12th century, and from Riodeva, the village where the fossils were found.

The first sign that something remarkable was about to be unearthed came with the discovery of the vast claw. Almost the entire left forelimb of the animal was then found as investigation of the site continued.

Dr Alcalá’s team immediately knew that they had found something big — both in size and scientific significance — but the full importance of their discovery has now been revealed in an analysis of the bones published in the journal Science.

“It is not just a new species,” Dr Alcalá said. “As we have recovered quite a large part of the skeleton, this has also allowed us to identify a new group of dinosaurs.”

Zak Roy Yoballa:
That's a big a@@ dino.  Thank goodness it was a plant eater.  Image the destruction a meat-eater that size could cause?

Mr. Maggot:
It would have starved, no doubt. 

Grendelion:
Try to imagine the damage it did as a herbivore.  A full grown elephant eats between 300-600 lbs of foliage a day.  Multiply that by six and you could probably get literal deforestation from one herd of these giants.

Big or small, everything has gotta eat.  :-fly)

Kadesh:
 Oh my... and just think about how much POO those things would leave around!!  :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o

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