Artists have recreated the image of a titanosaur, the remains of which were found in the Atacama desert in Chile
Chilean scientists studying the remains of a titanosaur found in the 1990s claim to have discovered a new species of this animal.
Parts of the skeleton of a giant dinosaur were found almost 20 years ago in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile by a group of scientists led by geologist Carlos Arevalo. Since then, they have been researching the find, and last Monday they published the results of their work in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research.
Researchers claim that during life, the animal lived in an area with lush vegetation, blooming ferns and palms. Titanosaurus is a herbivore with a small head, long neck, and an unusually flat back.
According to them, the species to which the found individual belonged differs from the already known titanosaurs, in particular, the structure of the nervous system and nerve endings. Scientists came to this conclusion by studying the structure of the animal between the spine and paws.
- Giant dinosaurs lived on Earth much earlier than we thought
- “Planet of the Dinosaurs”: BBC has returned to the past
- Predatory ichthyosaurus: a reptile the size of a blue whale
Scientists gave him the name – Arakar lycanantai, which in the language of the Kuns Indians means “bones from the Atacama”
According to them, their find included parts of the femur and ischium and fragments of the shoulder. Judging by their size, they belonged to a small, middle-aged individual, approximately 6.3 meters in length.
The remains were found in strata that have survived from the late Cretaceous period, that is, just before the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Thus, it can be accurately argued that titanosaurs are one of the last sauropods.
Now the bones of the animal will be on display at the Natural History Museum of Chile.
“This is a huge step in the development of paleontology in our country,” said one of the leaders of the museum, David Rubilar.
This is not the first dinosaur found in South America. In 2014, one of the largest individuals ever found was found in Argentina. It was also a titanosaur, the approximate length of which during its lifetime was more than 37 meters.
The Atacama Desert, where the skeleton was found, is considered the driest in the world. It is located on the west coast of South America in Chile. The nearest settlement to it is the city of Copiapo.
