Giant found in dinosaur graveyard

["Jerry D. Harris" <LOKICORP@compuserve.com>]

Date:   01/19/2000  9:15 AM

RE:     Giant found in dinosaur graveyard

 
BBC
Wednesday, 19 January, 2000, 12:47 GMT 
Giant found in dinosaur graveyard 


 Sauropods were massive creatures 
 
An Argentine villager has dug up the bones of what may be the largest
dinosaur species yet uncovered. 

Local palaeontologists said the dinosaur was a herbivore measuring up to 51
metres (167 ft) long - beating its nearest rival, the 100-tonne
Argentinosaurus huinculensis, by a good eight metres (26 ft). 


In Patagonia, walking among the rocks is enough to discover fossils
 
Carlos Munoz, palaeontologist  
 
It last walked on Earth during the Cretaceous period, 105 million years ago.


It was found in the southern Patagonian region in a series of canyons called
La Buitrera, or the Vulture Cage - after the winged scavengers that dominate
the region. 

The director of the Florentino Ameghino Museum, Carlos Munoz, said two
cervical vertebrae, measuring 1.2 m high, and a 2 m-long femur (leg bone),
had been unearthed. 

"We're ecstatic with this spectacular find. In Patagonia, walking among the
rocks is enough to discover fossils," he told Reuters news agency. 

Still searching 

The as-yet unnamed and unclassified giant was probably like other sauropods
with a small head on top of a long neck, and a long tail. 

Mr Munoz said a team of palaeontologists was at work in the region, and any
further bones recovered would be taken to the museum by the end of the
month. 

"We are going to be working until 31 January and then we will take
everything to the museum to remove the sediment, study it and later mount a
presentation." 

The cavernous region has long had a reputation as a dinosaur graveyard. 

Not only were the remains of the Argentinosaurus uncovered near the latest
find, last April palaeontologists recovered the bones of a carnivorous
monster thought to be larger than Giganotosaurus, the biggest meat-eater on
record. 

Giganotosaurus, also discovered in Patagonia, had a similar build to
Tyrannosaurus rex and roamed South America for millions of years.