The Largest Land Animals in History: Sauropods Dominate with 36 Lineages and 76 Metric Tons

KOMPAS.com – The largest animal that ever walked the surface of the Earth, lived millions of years ago.

A study from Adelphi University, New York, United States revealed that sauropods, dinosaurs with a characteristic long neck, were the largest land animals that ever existed.

This plant-eating dinosaur had even developed an unrivaled size over its hundreds of years of evolution.

Also read: Scientists Find Ichthyosaurs, Land Animals That Evolved Into Sea Monsters from the Age of Dinosaurs

36 lineages are recorded as the largest land animals

Reported from Reuters (8/5/2023), new study in the journal Current Biology it was for the first time counting the number of different sauropod lineages.

The study focuses on the sauropod lineages that produced species that exceeded the size of other land animals.

As for the large land animals that serve as benchmarks, namely the largest mammals such as elephant relatives, palaeoloxodon and mammoths, as well as rhino relatives, paraceratherium with weights in the range of 17-25 metric tons.

Paleontologist and study author Mike D’Emic identified 45 species from 36 lineages of sauropods that weighed more than these mammals.

He revealed that these 36 lineages of dinosaurs lived over a span of about 100 million years, bridging the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

“Sauropods weren’t just the largest animals that ever walked the Earth. They independently earned that title more than 30 times throughout their evolutionary history,” he said.

“Through new analysis, we now know that this number is much higher, with around three dozen examples spanning 100 million years.”

Thus, even across 36 lineages in different epochs, sauropods remained the champions of the largest animals to ever walk the planet Earth.

Also read: Want to know the location of the house during the age of the dinosaurs? Check Here!

The largest sauropod weighed 76 metric tons

Meanwhile, the winner is Argentinosaurus, a sauropod that lived about 95 million years ago in Argentina, and weighed about 76 metric tons.

Following, Brachiosaurus weighing 63 metric tons, became the next largest land animal that lived about 150 million years ago.

Still in the same era, there lived also a sauropod named Barosaurus in western North America with a weight of 60 metric tons.

Furthermore, there are sauropods weighing around 48 metric tons called Notocolossus, Dreadnoughtus, and Patagotitan from Argentina, as well as Yunmenglong from central China, and Australotitan from Australia.

The sauropod is only surpassed in size by today’s largest blue whales, weighing around 150 metric tons.

Also read: The Asteroid That Destroyed the Dinosaurs 66 Million Years Ago Triggered a Giant Tsunami

The gigantic body brought advantages for sauropods

Sauropods themselves appeared around 200 million years ago, according to the page Scitech DailySaturday (8/7/2023).

The first species with a superlative size was the Xinjiangtitan, which lived about 165 million years ago on the plains of China.

Meanwhile, the last species was Alamosaurus, which lived in the southwestern United States, just before the asteroid strike 66 million years ago.

“Some have necks that reflect the length of their tails, while others have necks that appear very long for their bodies,” said D’Emic.

Other sauropod species had tougher and stronger necks, while some were as slender as giraffes or as stocky as rhinos.

On the other hand, in terms of food, these animals also vary, seen from the shape of their teeth and skull.

D’Emic said size provided a number of advantages for sauropods. One of them, making it easier for him to deal with dangerous meat-eating dinosaurs.

The giant size also makes it easier for these animals to get plant resources as food.

“The ability to reach food that other animals cannot reach, and the ability to have a wider geographic range,” explained D’Emic.

“So even if there is a shortage of food or loss of habitat in one area, these animals can migrate to other areas,” he concluded.

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2023-07-09 13:30:00
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