Largest Megaraptor ever discovered: 10 meters long and more agile than the T-Rex

In Patagonia, a team of scientists found the fossil remains of a huge carnivorous dinosaur, belonging to the megaraptor family

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

Slender but strong, with a long tail used as a rudder and nimble legs. In Patagonia, a team of scientists found the fossil remains of a huge carnivorous dinosaur, belonging to the Megaraptoridae family, the largest megaraptor ever observed.

His discovery made researchers coordinated by Fernando Novas of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Science Museum: thanks to its size, the one discovered in Argentina it may be one of the largest dinosaurs ever identified. But not only. It also has another record: its remains date back to the Cretaceous period, probably about 70 million years ago and are the most recent ever found to date. It is therefore the last megaraptor ever discovered.

Last March a paleontological campaign started in southern Argentina. The team of nearly 40 people consisted of members of the Laboratory of Comparative Anatomy and Evolution of Vertebrates, led by paleontologist Dr. Fernando Novas, along with colleagues from the museum's Paleobotany division, as well as Japanese colleagues from the Tokyo National Museum, the University of La Plata and the University of Buenos Aires. The destination was Estancia La Anita, in the southwest of the Province of Santa Cruz, where sediments of 70 million years have emerged. For nearly a month, the group explored the area and extracted a large number of fossils. Among all these, the remains of a huge carnivorous dinosaur caused a sensation.

The findings at Estancia La Anita have made it possible to discover a new species of megaraptor, which lived with the well-known Isasicursor, an ornithopod discovered by Argentine scientists last year.

Largest Megaraptor ever discovered: 10 meters long and more agile than the T-Rex

Identikit of the Megaraptor

The Megaraptors were a group of extraordinary hunters who populated South America, Asia and Australia during the Cretaceous period. These predators were characterized by a slender and light skeleton, a long tail surely used to maintain balance and move, and long, muscular legs, capable of taking long strides while running. However, the most striking thing about the Megaraptors was their huge limbs. They were long and equipped with claws about 35 centimeters in size.

This suggests that the arms were the main weapons of these dinosaurs during the hunt, not their jaws, unlike the Velociraptor or the Tyrannosaurus rex. As a result, these massive creatures were more agile than the fearsome T-Rex. They ate herbivores called Ornithopods. They were small bipedal animals, with agile skeletons, who lived in groups.

This new species of carnivore represents one of the largest in the family, because it would have been 10 meters long, but in turn, it also represents one of the most modern records. This implies that the Megaraptors were part of the ecosystems of the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs, a fact hitherto unknown.

"Now we can know that, under enormous conifers and flowering plants (Angiosperms) and between the legs of a colossal sauropod that chased away birds and small mammals, a huge carnivore was running away trying to reach a family of isasicursors, thus trying to get his prey of the day ”explain the scientists.

The discovery will allow scientists to learn more about the history of dinosaurs and their evolution.

Sources of reference: Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences