Episode 97 is all about Argentinosaurus, a titanosaur from Argentina, and one of many largest recognized dinosaurs.
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On this episode, we focus on:
- The dinosaur of the day: Argentinosaurus
- Identify means “Argentine lizard”
- Titanosaur from what’s now Argentina
- One of many largest recognized dinosaurs, lived within the late Cretaceous
- Newest “largest dinosaur” is Dreadnoughtus
- First fossils discovered by a rancher in 1987 (thought a leg was an enormous piece of petrified wooden), additionally discovered a big vertebra, concerning the measurement of an grownup human male
- Described by José F. Bonaparte and Rodolfo Coria in 1993
- Kind species is Argentinosaurus huinculensis
- Holotype solely has 6 vertebrae from the again, 5 partial vertebrae from the hip space, ribs on the correct of the hip, a part of a rib from the flank, and the correct fibula
- Different Argentinosaurus bones which were discovered embody an incomplete femur, which mixed with the opposite bones helps scientists estimate its measurement
- Precise measurement of Argentinosaurus is unsure
- One vertebra was 5.2 ft (1.59 m) tall
- Gregory S. Paul estimated Argentinosaurus to be between 98-115 ft (30-35 m) lengthy and weigh 80-100 tons
- The skeletal restoration on the Museo Carmen Funes is 140 ft (39.7 m) lengthy and 24 ft (7.3 m) excessive, and has the principally full fibula
- In 2006 Carpenter estimated Argentinosaurus to be 98 ft (30 m) lengthy, primarily based on Saltasaurus
- Different estimates primarily based on Saltasaurus, Opisthocoelicaudia, and Rapetosaurus say Argentinosaurus is between 72-85 ft (22-26 m) lengthy
- In 2004, Mazzetta and others estimated Argentinosaurus to weigh 73 tons (Argentinosaurus is the heaviest recognized sauropod)
- One other estimate is that Argentinosaurus weighed 83 tons primarily based on the amount of a reconstruction
- In 2013, Invoice Sellers, Rodolfo Corio, Lee Margetts and others revealed a research in PLOS One about Argentinosaurus‘ pace. They digitally reconstructed Argentinosaurus, and estimated its gait and pace with musculoskeletal evaluation. They discovered it might go as quick as 5 mph (2 m/s)
- They used a laser to scan the skeleton within the Argentine museum
- Herbivore, with an extended neck it used to succeed in up into confiers or sweep the bottom for ferns and bushes
- Swallowed gastroliths to grind up the meals in its abdomen
- They most likely traveled in herds for protections (juveniles have been susceptible to predators)
- Fossilized eggs of sauropods associated to Argentinosaurus have been discovered, and it’s attainable that lots of of Argentinosaurus adults got here collectively every year to nest, on extensive, flat floodplains
- Titanosaurs are a bunch of sauropods, very giant herbivores, that lived over the last 30 million years of the Mesozoic Period. Some titanosaur species are the most important land-living animals found, however in lots of circumstances, scientists have discovered incomplete fossils
- The title Titanosaur got here from the Titans of Historic Greek mythology
- The household, Titanosauridae, was named after Titanosaurus, an incomplete fossil (solely a partial femur and two incomplete caudal vertebrae) discovered by Richard Lydekker in 1877. Some scientists suppose there’s not sufficient info for Titanosauridae to be a genus
- Titanosaurs have been the final group of sauropods. They lived about 90 to 66 million years in the past and have been the dominant herbivores. They changed different sauropods, like diplodocids and brachiosaurids
- Titanosaur fossils have been discovered on all continents, together with Antarctica. Probably the most titanosaurs lived within the southern continents, which was then a part of the supercontinent Gondwana.
- In comparison with different sauropods, Titanosaurs had small heads. Their heads have been additionally extensive, with giant nostrils, and crests shaped by nasal bones
- Titanosaurs had spoon-like, or peg or pencil like tooth that have been very small
- Titanosaurs weren’t choosy eaters. That they had a broad weight loss program which included cycads and conifers, in addition to (surprisingly) palms and grasses, such because the ancestors of rice and bamboo (proof that dinosaurs and grasses advanced collectively)
- They tended to have common size necks, no less than for sauropods, and whip-like tails, however not so long as the Diplodocus tail
- Titanosaurs additionally had slimmer pelvis’ in comparison with some sauropods, and wider chests, which gave them a broader stance (they usually left broader tracks)
- That they had stocky forelimbs that have been normally longer than their hindlimbs, they usually had stable again bones as a substitute of hollowed out again bones
- Enjoyable truth: The world’s largest synchrotron is the Giant Hadron Collider (LHC) constructed by CERN from 1998-2008. It maintains 13 TeV (tera electron volts) between its two beams. To clarify what 1 TeV is they are saying “1 TeV is concerning the power of movement of a flying mosquito. What makes the LHC so extraordinary is that it squeezes power into an area about one million million [AKA a trillion] occasions smaller than a mosquito” It’s additionally 17miles in circumference. By comparability the European Synchrotron is 6GeV (about 1/2,000th the facility of the LHC) and is about ½ a mile in circumference. And the Stanford Synchrotron is 3GeV (half the European Synchrotron) and is about 1/eighth a mile in circumference.
This episode was dropped at you by:
The Royal Tyrrell Museum. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is situated in southern Alberta, Canada. One of many prime paleontological analysis institutes on the planet, the whole museum is devoted to the science of paleontology. It’s undoubtedly a should see for each dinosaur fanatic. Extra info could be discovered at tyrrellmuseum.com.