Scientists unearth behemoth Dukei dino
Futalognkosaurus Dukei would have roamed the earth some 80 million years ago. It measured at least 32m (105ft) in height, making it one of the tallest dinosaurs ever found. Image credit: BBC
Scientists in South America say they’ve found the remains of one of the biggest dinosaurs ever.
Earth & Sky spoke with Jorge Calvo, director of the paleontology center at the National University of Comahue, Argentina. For nearly 20 years, Calvo has dug for dinosaur fossils in the deserts of Northern Patagonia. In late 2007, he found the skeleton of a lifetime.
Jorge Calvo: You can’t imagine how big was the neck was!
Calvo’s referring to the neck of the Futalognkosaurus dukei. Its neck had a diameter of 3 meters – about 10 feet – and its body is estimated to span over 30 meters, or 100 feet across.
Dukei, as he’s called, was found almost completely intact, something nearly unheard of in the field of paleontology. Not only that, but a number of other specimens of Dukei’s time – 90-million-year old plants and animal fossils – were unearthed nearby.
Jorge Calvo: In this case, all the fauna and flora was found in an area of 20 meters by 20 meters, so we know that they belong to the same ecosystem.
Often, said Calvo, when dinosaurs are pictured nestled among leaves, those leaves are from a place and time different from when the dinosaur existed. But Dukei will probably be pictured among leaves from his own place and time.
