Argentina. Scientists have discovered the oldest known giant dinosaur fossils in northwestern Argentina, a four-legged herbivore with a medium neck and a long tail that was a forerunner of the largest terrestrial animals that ever lived.
The dinosaur, called Ingentia prima, which means "the first giant", measured up to 10 meters long, weighed about 10 tons and lived about 210 million years ago during the Triassic
. Photo taken from the Internet
] Ingentia was one of the first members of a group of dinosaurs known as sauropods who later included the largest terrestrial creatures on Earth, including the Argentinian giants of Patagonia called Argentinosaurus, Dreadnoughtus and Patagotitan.
We see at Ingentia prima the origin of gigantism, the first steps for the sauropods up to 70 barrels to emerge more than 100 million years later Adas like those who lived in Patagonia » said Cecilia Apaldetti, paleontologist at the National University of San Juan in Argentina, lead author of the study published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Unlike late sauropods, legs of
Photo: Agencies
Ingentia did not have a pillar shape. His neck was also shorter than that of the later sauropods, which had one of the longest necks in relation to the length of any animal.
Dinosaurs first appeared in the Triassic, about 230 million years ago. The former had a moderate size, far from the huge dinosaurs of the subsequent Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods.
Scientists believed that the first giant dinosaurs appeared about 180 million years ago.
Apaldetti considered that the Ingentia not only C is the largest dinosaur but the largest land animal of any type up to this time. It was at least twice as large as the other herbivores that shared the warm savanna environment in which they lived. The biggest predators were not dinosaurs, but grandparents of crocodiles who lived on Earth.
Giantism is an evolutionary survival strategy, especially for herbivorous animals, because pruning is a form of defense against predators.
Scientists have identified important features related to gigantism in Ingentia. He had a birdlike respiratory system, linked to the development of air pockets inside the body that gave him large reserves of oxygenated air and kept him cool despite his large size.
Although the late giant dinosaurs grew up in an accelerated but continuous way, a review of their bones showed that Ingentia rose seasonally instead of continuously, but at an even greater rate.
Ingentia, known by two partial skeletons, was discovered in the Argentine province of San Juan.
