The largest dinosaur
Argentinosaurus huinculensis, a Sauropod dinosaur, is a member of the large herbivorous dinosaurs with heavy body, small skull and long neck and tail. It lived in South America during the Cretaceous period, 94-97 million years ago. It reached 37 meters in length and weighed between 75 to 100 tons.
It was discovered in 1993 by Argentinean palaeontologists who found fossil remains of its vertebrae, pelvis and tibia. It was named after the country in which it was discovered.
It lived in small herds and thus protected from predators. Its large size was an additional defence against its enemies, since contemporary in South America lived other giant predators, such as Mosasaurus and Giganotosaurus, which are among the bigger land predators on Earth. Despite its enormous size, the size of its eggs was the size of soccer ball, so that the young dinosaurs had to grow up a lot to get to the typical 37 meters.
Although, most of the giant predators were extinct by the late Jurassic in South America, Argentinosaurus and its relatives continued to live longer.
