A new species of enormous dinosaur was discovered, according to Australian paleontologists. The bones suggest the beasts may have been two stories tall and as long as a basketball court.
Paleontologists carrying a 3D-reconstructed humerus of Australotitan cooperensis in Queensland, Australia
The discovery of a new species of sauropod dinosaur, which may be among the biggest to have ever lived, has been confirmed by paleontologists in Australia.
The identification of the Australotitan cooperensis species is an important step in a 15-year journey that began with the discovery of the first bones of the species in 2006 on a family farm in the Eromanga Basin, around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of Brisbane.
What do we know about the novel dinosaur species?
Informally, the dinosaur is referred to as "Cooper" after the nearby creek where the bones were found. The estimated size of the creature was 20 to 30 meters (65 to 98 feet) long and 5 to 6.5 meters (16 to 21 feet) height. This implies that the dinosaur species would have been two stories tall and as long as a basketball court.
Only in South America have the remains of a dinosaur this size before been discovered. "Cooper" is one of the top five largest dinosaur species yet found.
"Discoveries like this are just the tip of the iceberg," declared paleontologist Scott Hocknull, curator of the Queensland Museum and senior author of a study about the dinosaur that was released this week.
He pointed out that larger examples have yet to be found since it was thought that theropods, which were even bigger, preyed upon the plant-eating sauropods.
The new Australotitan species is thought to have existed between 92 and 96 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, when the Australian continent was still connected to Antarctica.
Students pose for photos with a replica of femur from the Australotitan cooperensis in Eromanga, Queensland, Australia
How did the find come about?
On the farm owned by her family, rancher Robyn Mackenzie and her husband made the discovery 15 years ago while grazing cattle. Since then, she has developed into a field paleontologist and established the dinosaur's home, the Eromanga Natural History Museum.
The Queensland Museum and modern digital technologies collaborated to create the first 3D scan of each bone. The scans made it possible to compare the bones to those of other species, enabling researchers to identify particular traits.
The confirmation that A. cooperensis was a new species, according to Hocknull, was a "very long and painstaking task."
Mackenzie hopes that the find would bring visitors to her own country. In 2007, the bones were initially put on exhibit.
