Scientists find dinosaur

A team led by researchers from the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio found the fossil remains of a new dinosaur species dated 95 million years ago; the largest known to date. The amount and size of these fossils, as well as their unusual state of preservation, makes it a highly unusual finding, according to the scientists.

The fossils were discovered in the remote Patagonia region and, according to the paleontologists, may be a new species of Titanosaur, a long-necked, long-tailed, plant-eating sauropod that walked on four legs in the Cretaceous Period.

The dinosaur "weighed the equivalent of more than 14 African elephants," or about 100 tons, said Jose Luis Carballido, a paleontologist at the Egidio Feruglio Museum in the southern Argentine city of Trelew.

"This is a true paleontological treasure," Carballido said in a statement on the museum website. Previous finds have been scarce and fragmentary. "There are many remains and they were practically intact, something that does not frequently happen."

Museum director Ruben Cuneo told local media that the remains belong to "the largest known specimen" of its kind and "the most complete find of this type of dinosaur in the world."

Experts believe that the remains of seven dinosaurs, as well as the broken teeth of carnivores, are among the 200 fossils found at the Chubut site in Patagonia, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) south of the capital Buenos Aires. A farm worker came across the remains by accident in 2011.

jm/slk (AFP, Reuters)