A new species of dinosaur discovered in Australia has been confirmed to be the largest in the country and one of the largest in the world.
The fossilized skeleton, nicknamed “Cooper”, was found in southwest Queensland in 2007, at Copper Creek in the Eromanga Basin. But the skeleton has remained a mystery for years, only scientifically described and named by paleontologists.
Researchers from the Eromanga Natural History Museum (ENHM) and the Queensland Museum published their findings in the scientific journal PeerJ on Monday.
Cooper, whose scientific name is Australotitan coprensis, is estimated to have traveled the Earth over 90 million years ago. It was a titanosaur – a herbivorous species belonging to the long-necked sauropod family, the largest of the dinosaurs.
The dinosaur is estimated to be 5-6.5 meters (16.4-21.3 feet) tall at the hip and 25-30 meters (82-98.4 feet) long, making it the length of ‘a basketball court and the height of a two-story court. building, said the ENHM.
With its long neck and long tail, it probably looks like the most famous of the brachiosaurs.
Robin McKenzie, co-founder of the Natural History Museum in Eromanga, said the team of paleontologists were quickly able to determine the size of the bone fragments that they belong to a large species.
“The pieces were big and bulky,” she said. “We were able to measure the bones and compare them with other species in Australia and the rest of the world.”
Several large pieces, including the dinosaur’s shoulder bones and pelvic bones and limbs, were mostly intact. However, researchers have encountered delays in identifying the species due to difficulties in managing its large and brittle bones.
The sheer size of the bones meant they were stored in museums often hundreds of miles apart.
So the team used 3D technology to scan each titanosaur bone, allowing them to digitally compare the bones with those of similar species.
Australotitan has been found closely related to three other Australian sauropods discovered further north in the town of Winton.
The study also points to an open book of other dinosaur discoveries that could be made in Australia.
“The results put Australia on the map,” said MacKenzie, and allowed Australia to join other nations making progress in paleontology. These types of “giant dinosaurs” have been widely found in South America so far, making this find even rarer.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg of discoveries in Australia,” she said. “It opened up a whole new frontier for dinosaurs.”
Texte d’Amy Sood, CNN
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