Paleontologists have found two Titanosaurus fossils in northwestern Argentina
(Mysterious Earth uux.cn report) According to the reference news network (compilation / Wang Lu): The website of the Spanish newspaper El País published a report on November 19 titled "Paleontologists Find Fossils of Two Titanosaurs in Northwest Argentina", written by Federico Cookso. According to the report, in March 2016, Heixing Leitner led the archaeological team to the site for the third time to excavate, a geologist found a red rock with a stone back that resembles the femur of a dinosaur, researchers later found rib fossils, and finally found three complete fossils of dinosaur remains buried for 70 million years. Fossilized tail vertebrae suggest that these are two hitherto unknown genera of Titanosaurus.
The last descendant of titanosaurs
Five years ago, Argentine paleontologist and titanosaurus research expert Martin Hechenleitner went out with colleagues to investigate, but returned empty-handed. They came to the Santo Domingo Mountains in the Sierra de La Rioja, near the Andes Mountains in the province of La Rioja in northwestern Argentina, where the environment is extreme, at an altitude of 3200 meters, and it is not habitable.
"We don't have any data on the excavation site, only some dilapidated and tiny vertebrate fossils, discovered by an Australian geologist and kept in a small university box, which no one paid attention to," Said Höchingletner. The archaeologists searched the valley for 10 days, but found nothing, and exhausted, they ended the expedition.
A few months later, they returned to the site of study. On day 6, their persistence was finally rewarded – they found a fossilized dinosaur egg, followed by a nest with 5 fossil eggs.
But bigger treasures were still waiting for them to discover. In March 2016, Heixing Leitner led the archaeological team to the site for the third time to excavate, a geologist found a red rock back that resembles the femur of a dinosaur, researchers quickly and carefully investigated, and found rib fossils, and finally found 3 complete fossils of dinosaur remains buried for 70 million years.
Fossilized tail vertebrae show that these are two hitherto unknown genera of Titanosaurus that lived at the end of the Cretaceous period, that is, they may have been the last descendants of these two Titanosaur species.
According to a study published in the journal Biological Communications, the large Titanosaurus was named Coogreen Plateau Dragon to illustrate the environment in which it lived and pay tribute to the geologist Kugrin, who first found dinosaur fossils in the area, it should be 20 meters long, and the other two small Titans weighed about 3 tons and were about 7 meters long, and were named Blava Dragon.
Ancient behemoths
Titanosaurus was the largest animal that ever walked on Earth, belonging to a herbivorous dinosaur with a wide variety, a long neck, and a complex evolutionary history. They lived about 145 million to 66 million years ago, and fossilized bodies have been found on every continent, including Antarctica.
But the country where the largest variety of Titanosaurus fossils have been found so far is Argentina, where a total of 35 species have been found, of which the largest Mayo's Batago dragon is 37.2 meters long and weighs the equivalent of 10 African elephants. Blacklightner said: "I was shocked by their size, I really don't know how such a large animal, their bodies complete biological functions." ”
Australian biologist Roger Seymour believes that, contrary to most of the museum's restored models, Titanosaurus probably could not stand up like a giraffe, because to erect its neck, the animals' hearts had to be very large to pump enough blood to their heads, so the titans' heads were likely to be parallel to the ground.
In South America, most titanosaur fossils were found in Patagonia, Argentina, and the Baolu Basin in southwestern Brazil. Archaeologist Agustin Martinelli, a member of the archaeological team, said: "Interestingly, we found fossils in the province of La Rioja, which filled the gap between the two fossil areas. The researchers' analysis showed that the two newly discovered titanosaurs were similar in features to Patagonianosaurus and Brazilian Baurus, further reinforcing the hypothesis of a close relationship between sauropods in northern and southern South America.
Or was once an amphibian
By the end of the Cretaceous period, Titanosaurus may have spread throughout South America, when South America was an island separate from other landmasses. Paleontologists point out that Titanosaurus was a social animal that migrated in droves.
The two titans, The Coogrelins and the BravaOsaurus, were supposed to live in the same place, but they weren't as large as the Batago Dragons, which lived about 30 million years before them. "We don't know exactly why such changes in posture occur, it may be that changes in climate and vegetation are causing them to shrink in size," Hechenletner said. Or maybe it's because of the emergence of grasses, because animals don't need to grow that big if they eat them. ”
The place where Argentine scientists found the fossils of neo-Titanosaurus in ancient times may have been a plain of a river, and the river plain should have been the favorite environment of the Kuglin Plateau Dragon and brava Dragon. Blackleatner speculated: "We suspect that Titanosaurus was once an amphibian, like a hippopotamus. Hippos are large animals that live at the water's edge or in the water for a long time, and it is obvious that there are a large number of hippos living and dying in this area. ”
Fossil teeth of carnivorous dinosaurs and crocodiles were also found during the excavation. It should be that the remains of Titanosaurus have been exposed for a long time, and the animals that eat carrion eat them as a good meal.