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Cecilia Apaldetti
The dinosaur was found in what is now Argentina, but formerly a huge supercontinent
They are the largest animals to have walked on Earth, some weighing as much as a space shuttle
However, it is unclear how the dinosaurs grew to such massive proportions.
A new discovery of dinosaurs in Argentina gives
The animal used a new strategy to become super-sized, involving very fast growth surges and lungs pseudo-effective birds, say paleontologists.
The fossil was found in the northwest of the island. Argentina during an excursion. Scientists have found four skeletons in all, one from a new species and three related dinosaurs.
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Cecilia Apaldetti
"We were able to see that it was a new species that we named Ingentia prima ", said Dr. Cecilia Apaldetti of the National University of San Juan in Argentina. "This in Latin means the" first giant "."
The dinosaur goes back to the Triassic, about 47 million years before the emblematic long-necked plant eaters Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus appeared on the scene
There It was not as big, weighing about 10 tons. But his discovery is a surprise, arriving so early in the evolution of dinosaurs
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Cecilia Apaldetti
The new dinosaur species Ingentia prima and similar species are grouped under the name "lessemsaurids".
Analysis: By Dr. Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh
Dinosaur fans need to learn a new name, the lessemsaurids, as these are the first dinosaurs to reach giant heights of about 10 tons. , dating back to the Triassic period 215 million years ago. The remarkable discovery of four skeletons of lessemsaurids forces us to rethink when and how the dinosaurs became so great.
We used to think that the first giant dinosaurs appeared at the beginning of the Jurassic, after the supervolcans caused a global extinction at the end of the Triassic. But the lessemaurs tell us that at least some dinosaurs could reach giant heights during the last part of the Triassic, before extinction.
What is truly unexpected, is that the lessemsaurids achieved their huge bodies independently of the gigantic sauropods as Brontosaurus and Diplodocus which actually evolved later during Jurassic. The huge size development was not only a unique event for sauropods, but rather different types of dinosaurs could become colossal, which shows just how incredible these animals were.
What did the new dinosaur look like?
This is a member of a group called sauropodomorphs, meaning "lizard-foot shape". They eventually became the four-legged creatures that became the largest animals that ever walked on the earth.
The dinosaur had an elongated neck and tail, but not on the scale of Diplodocus . It was about 10m long
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Cecilia Apaldetti
Bones start to emerge
How did he grow up too?
Like the dinosaurs who lived later, he had air sacs resembling birds, which might be necessary to keep large animals cool and provide them with large amounts of oxygen.
The growth rings seen in his bones show that he grew up very fast.
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Title: Jorge A. González
Reconstruction with green air sacs and brown lungs
"We could observe in the bones [from the growth rings] that they had periods of high growth," said Dr. Apaldetti, who was part of the team to find the dinosaur.
The investigations of his group show that there is more than one. super-size way of a dinosaur.
And they suggest that there may be even bigger and stranger dinosaurs, which are yet to be discovered.
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SPL
Brachiosaurus came later, and was even larger
"This is a new way to get body size at an early point in the history of evolution," said Dr. Apaldetti. "This strategy has not been used again in the history of dinosaurs."
The results are published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
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