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In Argentina, the fossils of the first known giant dinosaurs have just been unearthed. The discovery surprised the scientific community, since until now it was thought that the largest animals that walked on Earth had not appeared so early in the evolution of dinosaurs.
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The Giant Boom
" Ingentia prima "was a quadruped herbivore with a neck of medium length and a long tail that was probably about ten meters and weighed more than ten tons.It belongs to a group of dinosaurs, known as sauropods, which includes some of the largest terrestrial animals that have ever existed.These scientists consider that "Ingentia prima" was once the largest dinosaur and terrestrial animal until then, it was at least twice as large as the other herbivores that shared its habitat.
Until now, it was not known for sure how the dinosaurs grew up. to reach these enormous dimensions. It was thought that gigantic bodies of dinosaurs weighing more than ten tons first appeared about one hundred and eighty million years ago during the Jurbadic period. "Ingentia prima" points in another direction, and suggests that gigantism evolved during the Tribadic some thirty million years earlier than previously believed. "In" Ingentia prima "we observe the origin of gigantism, the first until more than a hundred million years later, sauropods of seventy tons appeared as those who lived in Patagonia ", said the paleontologist and lead author of the study, Dr. Cecilia Apaldetti of the National University of San Juan (Argentina). "Reuters". This doctor was part of the team that discovered the dinosaur.
Several of the characteristics of the dinosaur led the scientific team to link it to gigantism. Its respiratory system was similar to that of birds, related to the development of air sacs in the body that provided oxygen reserves and kept the temperature low despite its large size.
How could they grow up in such a short time?
The last giant dinosaurs grew at a fast and continuous speed. By studying the bones of the "Ingentia prima", the team revealed that the growth of these specimens occurred in fast growing and not continuously, but at an even faster rate. "In [los anillos de crecimiento de] the bones are clearly observed that they have grown rapidly," said Dr. Apaldetti in an interview with the "BBC."
"It's a new way to gain body during the first moments of history. evolutionary, "he added. "This strategy has not been used again throughout the history of dinosaurs."
"Ingentia prima" forces us to rethink the ideas we have about the mechanisms by which dinosaurs have become giants and offer new data on their evolution. But that's not all, because in the study it is pointed out that there could be larger and more strange dinosaurs to discover.
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