Earth-shaking dinosaur that's 'one of the biggest ever' discovered by scientists


A gigantic dinosaur more than 98-foot-long and weighing as much as 12 African elephants has been discovered by scientists.

Bustingorrytitan shiva, named after the Hindu god of destruction Shiva, is one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found and is part of the humungous species branch of mega creatures known as the megatitanosaurs.

The long-necked giants were massive herbivores that roamed the Earth more than 90 million years ago, before the mass extinction event that eventually wiped out their kind.

Bustingorrytitan shiva was unearthed by palaeontologists working in western Argentina, the South American country that has already given the world its largest dinosaur, the aptly-named 77-tonne Argentinosaurus.

Although not as big as its cousin, Bustingorrytitan shiva (B. shiva) is believed to have still weighed around 74 tonnes, about as heavy as six London double-decker buses.

Live Science reports study lead author María Edith Simón, a palaeontologist who ran the B. shiva excavation, said the discovery demonstrates different branches of titanosaurus developing.

She told the publication: “In Patagonia, we are still at a stage where we are more likely to find something new than something known, and the unknown is often wonderful

“In the publication we reported on a sauropod that became a giant, independently of others within their group.”

The findings of B. shiva have been published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

A local farmer first found the bones of B. shvia in a field in 2000 before it was later analysed and the area excavated to reveal the new species.

Scientists now believe gigantic titanosaurs lived side-by-side during the Cretaceous period around 145 to 66 million years ago.

According to Live Science the naming of B. shiva, Bustingorrytitan, uses the last name of farmer Manuel Bustingorry who discovered the bones and ‘titan’, which were giants in Ancient Greek mythology.

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