Researchers in Australia have confirmed the discovery of Australia's largest dinosaur species ever found. Australotitan cooperensis was about 80 to 100 feet long and 16 to 21 feet tall at its bottom. It weighed somewhere between 25 and 81 tons.
The first of the creature' bones were dug out back in 2006 and 2007, but only now, after years of analysis, have researchers been able to confirm that the bones are from the largest dinosaur in Australia. "It's taken this long because it's such a complex piece of work. You have to take the bones out of the ground and prepare the fossils arid then you study them and compare them against all other species of dinosaurs worldwide," says Scott Hocknull, a paleontologist (古生物学者) at the Queensland Museum.
Diego Pol, head of paleontology in Argentina, says these large dinosaurs were probably living in vast spaces across a connected land including what is now South America, Antarctica and Australia. "This means that if we go to Antarctica and dig into the right rocks, most likely we will find supergiant dinosaurs too. So I found that super exciting."
As part of its research, the Australian team used new 3D-scanning technology to scan the bones from Australotitan and compare them with those of similar species. Both Australian and Argentine researchers agree that the new technology has opened doors for sharing information. Previously, paleontologists might have needed to fly across the world to look at fossils in person, Pol says the super-high resolution (分辨率) that now exists is "like having the real bone in your computer."
"Discoveries like this are just the tip of the iceberg," Hocknull said in the statement "Our ultimate goal is to find more evidence that tells the changing story of Queensland, hundreds of millions of years in the making. A grand story all scientists, museums and tourists will be interested in."
