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Amazing and mysterious animals -. Despite the fact that people were unable to discover their existence, the remains of dinosaurs were forever preserved in the geological deposits of the Earth, on the pages of scientific and fiction, in our imagination.
The period separating humans and dinosaurs is 230 million years.
Of course, knowledge about these incredible creatures are available thanks to the painstaking work of scientists around the world, collecting information bit by bit.
Many discoveries and discoveries allowed us to restore appearance animals, design their behavior, determine the type of food and relationships with relatives.
In today's article we invite you to get acquainted with the most great representatives dinosaurs and evaluate their size and appearance.
Unusual name came to us from the Nahuatl language, and translated means “feathered serpent” - the deity of the Aztecs and other tribes Central America.
Today, Quetzalcoatlus is the only large representative of the pterosaur order.
Flying lizards lived at the end Cretaceous period– 69-65 million years ago.
The weight of quetzalcoatlus reached 250 kg, body length - 7 m. The wingspan of the feathered dinosaur was 12 meters.
They presumably ate carrion, and rarely small animals. They had a long beak and sharp teeth, which allowed them to absorb rough food without difficulty.
Quetzalcoatli were distributed in the United States, Texas.
Name of this species ancient lizard comes from two Greek words for “flesh” and “crocodile”. However, Sarcosuchus does not belong to the order of crocodilians.
It is considered the largest crocodile-like reptile that lived in the Cretaceous period.
The body length of Sarcosuchus could reach 15 meters, and the weight ranged from 8 to 14 tons. The dimensions of the skull were also gigantic - 1.6 m.
The huge Sarcosuchus had a powerful jaw, the strength of which was 15-20 tons.
These dinosaurs ate aquatic animals, fish and other lizards.
Scientists have determined that they lived in the territory modern Africa.
Spinosaurus literally means “spined lizard.” Spinosaurus received this name due to the structure of the body and skin.
They lived in the Cretaceous period - 112-93.5 million years ago - on the territory of modern North Africa.
Spinosaurs mastered both aquatic and terrestrial environment a habitat. Among their carnivorous relatives, they had the most big skull. Body weight could be from 9 to 12 tons, length - 15-18 meters.
Spinosaurus is easy to recognize: the sail-shaped vertebral processes especially stand out in its appearance. They also had well-developed forelimbs, which helped them hold the prey.
Scientists believe that the favorite delicacy of spinosaurs was stingrays.
The remains were first found in Egypt in 1915. It was they who allowed the German paleontologist E. Stromer to compile detailed description.
Shantungosaurus is a hadrosaurus found in Shandong Province, China, during the Late Cretaceous period.
Counts largest representative ornithischian dinosaurs.
The herbivorous Shantungosaurus could reach 15-17 meters in length and 15-20 tons in weight.
The dinosaur's beak was toothless, but the jaws themselves had about 1,500 tiny teeth designed for grinding food.
Near the nostrils there was a hole covered with a membrane. By inflating it, Shantungosaurus could make sounds.
An unusual name received thanks to long neck and tail, translated as “double beam”.
Giant representative lizard-hipped dinosaurs that existed during the Jurassic period.
Diplodocus had very impressive dimensions: height - 10 m, body length - 28-32 m, weight - 20-30 tons. 4 powerful legs helped him move, and his tail created balance.
Some researchers, for example, believe that the tail could also serve for communication between individuals in a flock. But its main purpose is protection from predators.
Diplodocus fed on vegetation, algae and small mollusks. The dinosaur's poorly developed teeth only allowed it to grind food, not chew it.
Shonisaurus is considered the largest fish lizard, or ichthyosaur. They existed in the Late Triassic period - 250-90 million years ago, hiding in the depths of the ocean.
The dimensions of shonisaurs were enormous: length - 12-14 m, weight - 30-40 tons. The skull reached 2 meters and had narrow jaws.
Most likely, they were hunters and preferred big fish.
Largest burial found in Nevada in 1920. While mining for gold and silver, miners came across a giant skeleton.
All remains found belong to adults.
Sauroposeidon are giant sauropods that existed during the Cretaceous period - 125-100 million years ago.
WITH greek name This dinosaur is translated as "Poseidon's lizard".
The four-legged herbivore had gigantic dimensions: the length of the body reached 31-34 meters, and the weight of the lizard was 60 tons.
In the list of the tallest dinosaurs, Sauroposeidon would take second place, since its height, including its elongated neck, is 20 m.
Female sauroposeidons laid hundreds of eggs, but, unfortunately, a catastrophically small number survived: 3-4 individuals. This is due to the fact that after hatching, the babies faced many dangers: apart from their size, they had no other protection.
Young sauroposeidons lived independently in forests, feeding around the clock to grow. Only upon reaching a certain size were they accepted into the flock.
This type lizards were discovered quite recently - 1994, Oklahoma, USA. Unusual remains were discovered in the prison yard. Moreover, the vertebrae initially found were mistaken for a trunk huge tree.
So unusual name The dinosaur acquired its name thanks to the dialect of the local languages Mapudungun. Translated as “chief giant”.
Futalognkosaurs lived in the Upper Cretaceous period - 94-85 million years ago - in the territory of modern South America.
Futalognokosaurs grew up to 15 meters in height, 32-35 meters in length, and their weight reached 80 tons.
The remains of these giants were also discovered recently - 2000, Neuquen province, Argentina.
Argentinosaurus is one of the largest dinosaurs that lived in South America.
Obviously, they didn’t think long about the name of this species: that’s what they called it, “lizard from Argentina.”
Individuals of Argentinosaurs could grow to unimaginable sizes: body length - 22-35 m, weight of the lizard - 60-110 tons.
They had a long neck. The 4 limbs were approximately the same in size - they used them to move. The ability to stand on two legs, shown in films about the Argentinosaurus, is controversial, since the size of the front legs and the volume of the body most likely would not have allowed him to do this.
The giants' diet consisted of leaves tall trees and other vegetation of the Cretaceous period. In order to grind the food in the stomach, they swallowed stones.
Mamenchisaurus are herbivorous sauropods. Existed in the Upper Jurassic period on the territory of modern East Asia about 145 million years ago.
Mamenchisaurs had the longest neck, reaching a length of 15 m. All the vertebrae in the neck, and there were about 19 of them, were fastened by rows of ligaments, thanks to which the neck was strong and motionless.
The entire bony skeleton was strong and had little mass due to the cavities in each bone.
The body length of the Mamenchisaurus was 25 meters, the weight of the lizards could be from 60 to 120 tons.
Despite the gigantic body size, the head of dinosaurs was small. They moved on 4 legs and ate leaves and other vegetation.
Amphicoelias – ever existing on the planet. Belongs to the genus herbivorous giants.
The body length was 40-65 m, body weight reached 160 tons.
The cervical vertebrae were extremely light and allowed the amphicelias to support its neck. The head was small, and the huge body was clumsy, which is why these dinosaurs became easy prey for predatory lizards.
Such large amphicelias had to eat a lot, but even this had Negative consequences: they ate so many plants that after them many places became uninhabitable.
Amphicelias - the first open view herbivorous dinosaurs. The remains, or rather the only vertebral fragment found, were discovered in 1878 by archaeologist E. Kop.
Research by scientists has shown that Amphicelias is not only the most large dinosaur, but also the most big creature of all that have ever existed on the planet.
We have already dealt with length and mass in previous publications. But there is one more question that worries connoisseurs no less. prehistoric lizards: Which of the Mesozoic colossi was the tallest? The podium has already been built.
So, the tallest dinosaurs that ever lived on Earth:
So far, five positions have been identified, but we will gradually increase their number. In this case, the rating will be updated periodically.
As we can see, the first place now belongs to the Early Cretaceous Sauroposeidon. This is not only the most tall dinosaur in the world, but also the tallest animal in the world known to science at all. His height approximately corresponds to the height of a five-six-story building.
The giraffe, the tallest animal of our day, would seem like a midget compared to Sauroposeidon: a record height African mammal only about 6 m, that is, almost three times less. We invite you to look at titanium from the outside (click to enlarge).
Illustration from the work of American paleontologists Matthew Wedel and Richard Sifely ( "Sauroposeidon: Oklahoma's Native Giant", 2005). A small addition was made by us. Here: A - sauroposeidon, B - giraffatitan; C - person; D - six-story building.
The eighth cervical vertebra plus the back of the seventh. Nearby are Michael Taylor (left) and Matthew Wedel (right).
How can you characterize the leading group of dinosaurs? As in the case of length and height, all the leading positions are occupied by sauropods - long-necked four-legged colossi that feed plant foods. In this case, the family of brachiosaurids and their close relatives especially stands out. Titanosaurids follow closely.
It is important to note that this height was achieved primarily due to the long neck. With its help, sauropods could not only reach branches, but also eat vegetation within a significant radius around them. Without taking any extra steps.
It is only fair to illustrate other leaders as well.
Several giant sauropods were placed on one platform for comparison by American paleoartist Scott Hartman. Isn't it true that the growth of dinosaurs is quite impressive? The species are indicated on the right.
Next is a huge Chinese Dashatitan, located next to the man. From Spanish paleoartist Asier Larramendi.
Unique creatures that we can only learn about today from excavations are dinosaurs. The word “dinosaur” itself, translated from ancient Greek, means “terrible lizard.” This is true - dinosaurs are very similar in skeletal structure, scaly skin surface and other features. modern squad lizards, however, at the same time they were really scary, i.e. reached enormous sizes and often led predatory image life. If such an animal appeared on Earth today, it would cause nothing but fear and horror in humans. This is why dinosaurs have been the main characters in horror films for many years, striking with their size and bloodthirstiness.
There is an opinion among scientists that these giant vertebrates inhabited our planet during a period that is separated from our time by a large gap - 160 million years. This era is called Mesozoic. The first dinosaurs appeared on earth even earlier - about 200 million years ago, in the late Triassic. These organisms became extinct about 60-50 million years ago, because... towards the end of the Cretaceous period.
Most big dinosaur
As already mentioned, all dinosaurs were phenomenal in size - very unusual for modern man. Among them, of course, it was also possible to single out their record holders in terms of size. So, as is commonly believed today - futalognkosaurus(lat. Futalognkosaurus).
The remains of this animal were found for the first time in 2007, in Argentina (Neuquen province). Paleontologists say that this creature belongs to the titanosaur family and lived about 80 million years ago. The length of such an individual reached 34 meters - from the tip of the long tail to the head, set on an equally long neck. Futalognokosaurus weighed about 80 tons.
It is often believed that biggest dinosaur in the world- This diplodocus(lat. Diplodocus), which is quite similar to Futalognososaurus in shape - the same small head on a long neck and a tail of the same shape.
Diplodocus reached a length of 34-35 meters, and its weight was up to 50 tons. The height of an adult animal was 10 meters; diplodocus lived much earlier - about 150 million years BC; they were exclusively herbivores and peaceful animals.
Diplodocus is often confused with seismosaurs, which are actually just part of this species, but look somewhat different - they have a crest with long processes on their back. Diplodocus were quite inactive and even clumsy; they most likely could not run, but only moved sedately across the American prairies where they lived.
I think many people have asked themselves this question since childhood: who is the largest dinosaur, how long is it, and how much does it weigh? In fact, this is a very controversial issue.
Patagotitan majorum is now officially considered the largest dinosaur. Its weight is estimated to be up to 77 tons. And this is not a fully grown individual yet!
However, there are scattered remains that may belong to larger animals. Bruhatkaiosaurus from India, according to the most immodest estimates, could reach 240 tons; Amphicelia from North America- could be 62 meters long and 122 tons in weight. Scientists are skeptical about these estimates, since, for example, only one vertebra is known from Amphicelia.
It is very difficult to calculate the exact length and weight of an animal without knowing its proportions. But there is another thing: we know only a few individuals from many dinosaurs. Often there are not even adults among them. What is the probability that a person randomly selected from the crowd will be the largest? Therefore, dinosaurs were most likely larger than generally believed!
Were they the largest animals ever?
In truth, only blue whale can compete with the largest dinosaurs. If we take the largest estimate of the weight of dinosaurs - 240 tons, then the blue whale, as they say, is in flight. But I repeat, this assessment is very controversial. Surely dinosaurs reached about 80 tons. Well, and taking into account the fact that the individuals found are definitely not the largest, I think we can cautiously suggest a weight of up to 100 - 120 tons. Even if it’s not a “blue whale,” it’s still a lot. That's just an awful lot for land creature! Never before or after dinosaurs have there been such huge land animals!
Compared to their closest competitors - mammals, the size of dinosaurs is simply insanely huge. According to recent estimates, the largest land mammals were proboscis. Some of these huge "elephants" of antiquity are estimated at a maximum of about 30 tons. These are not the largest individuals found, but the calculated maximum, taking into account the fact that the largest were not found. That is, dinosaurs are 3-4 times heavier than these elephants!
But it’s very difficult to reach such sizes. Scientists are already asking the question: how could dinosaurs maintain their weight? They didn't have any special adaptations for this. Everything that exists does not go beyond the same elephants. Perhaps, writes Gregory Paul, dinosaur bones were much stronger. But this also means that when equal weight a dinosaur will be stronger than a mammal!
Now imagine how strong they are considering their size... In various films, especially on Ren TV, they often say that dinosaurs maintained their monstrous weight due to the low gravity at that time. But in fact, such hypotheses have nothing to do with real science. Although yes, the conditions then were somewhat different from today: there was much less oxygen in the atmosphere, and where large quantity carbon dioxide. Well, the climate as a whole was warmer, and much less contrasting.
Another problem for such giants is nutrition. To date, science does not have a convincing answer to a simple question: how could the populations of all these giants feed themselves? They needed an unreal amount of food! Especially considering that, judging by the structure of the bones, dinosaurs were warm-blooded, and not cold-blooded, as previously thought. Special calculations have shown that the areas of the continents are not sufficient to feed the populations of giants. So this remains one of their secrets.
Well, now I invite you to ask yourself: which dinosaur would you consider the largest? The tallest, the longest, or the heaviest? But most likely it will be different types, and no one will take all the medals alone!
The most big dinosaurs belong to the group of Sauropods. Of the sauropods, the longest are diplodocids (up to 62 m in length), the tallest are brachiosaurids (up to 18 m in height), and the heaviest are titanosaurids (up to 240 tons in weight). What would impress you more - a length of 62 meters or a height of 18 meters? Or maybe it weighs 240 tons? Hard to say.
This is all subjective and depends on the situation...
In general, people like to compare everything according to objective criteria. But if we go back to childhood, then we can probably more accurately rephrase the child’s question as follows: “Which dinosaur would make the greatest impression on me?”
A film with David Attenborough was recently released, in which approximately this question is raised. As a result, the authors come to the conclusion that the “coolest” is Patagotitan. But... When they show him in comparison with Attenborough, he doesn't make an impression. Why? A small head, followed by a long thin neck, and then a long body and tail. All this has no effect.
Try an experiment. Film "Park" Jurassic period“, I think everyone was watching. So ask the kids: who is the biggest dinosaur in the frame? Most people will probably say T. rex. Although objectively it was a brachiosaurus. And why all? The T. rex is more impressive. It makes more impression than the Patagotitan from documentary film. Because a T. rex is not a small head on a long neck. This is a huge, scary “muzzle” on a short, powerful neck, armed with large teeth protruding outward. And that's all, not to mention the fact that he is a predator. Who will impress you more - a 300 kg cow, or a 300 kg tiger? The answer is obvious.
Of course carnivorous dinosaurs make more impression on people. And in this regard, it is logical to ask the question: which of them is the largest?
For a long time, the T. rex was considered the largest predatory dinosaur. But in Lately competitors appeared for him. A Giganotosaurus, a Carcharodontosaurus, and finally a Spinosaurus were found. All of them together are still trying to shake the throne under the T. rex. Yes, it's all to no avail.
The most notable attempt to rock the T-Rex throne for mass audiences appeared in the film “Jurassic Park 3.” The Spinosaurus kills the T. rex in this film. True, not only does the battle itself look very unrealistic, but the film was initially coldly received by the audience. And now I want to talk not about the fact that everyone understands how the thin neck of the Spinosaurus would have been simply cut off by these powerful jaws, and not even about the fact that there are a lot of “tyrannophans”. But rather about why there are so many of them.
If we compare the T. rex with absolutely any of its “competitors,” it doesn’t matter whether it’s a spinosaurus, a giganotosaurus, or a carcharodontosaurus, we will discover the following striking feature: compared to the T. rex, they’re all crap. And that's putting it mildly. The T. rex has solid volumes of head, neck, and body. He looks like a fighter. While the rest have a frontal view...
Ummm... Not really. Thin “muzzle”, thin neck. They all look like flounder flattened laterally. And another important point: The T. rex looks straight into your eyes. His eyes are positioned in such a way that they provide him with a stereoscopic effect. The rest don't have it! Well, the name itself is Tyrannosaurus rex. Tyrant, lizard, king. This is impossible to forget! What a spinosaurus! It's no surprise that the new Jurassic World reinstates the T. rex as a conquering predator! And it’s unlikely that he will be shown as a loser in “World 2.”
Already in the trailer, he reaps the laurels of the winner, killing the dangerous Carnotaurus (if you watched the 2001 cartoon “Dinosaur”, then he is there as the main villain).
I think the answer to children's question: “Which dinosaur would impress me more” is already obvious to you. But you need to add a few finishing touches to show off the T. rex in all its glory.
First of all, as already mentioned, he is stronger than you can imagine! This is obvious from the fact that he carries his carcass, weighing 10 - 20 tons, on two legs bent at the knees. The T. rex's bones, ligaments and muscles must be stronger than those of any modern animal. And even than other dinosaurs: no one else carried such a carcass on two legs.
Secondly, they are terrible fighters, and during fights with each other, they tore their opponents’ ribs, necks and jaws, and bit off their tails. In addition, they were incredibly tenacious creatures. They were literally terminators in this regard. As an illustration of this thesis, I advise you to watch the film “Tyrannosaurus: Champion of Survival.” That's it, to huge size and he also has the incredibly reckless aggression of the Hulk and the vitality of Wolverine.
And finally, a quote from the famous Jack Horner: “... I think all T. rexes known today continued to grow.”
Even bigger, fiercer and more powerful! Which dinosaur would impress you the most? Definitely a Tyrannosaurus rex!
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Fortunately for humanity, the era when the most predatory dinosaurs in the world still lived on our planet has long passed. I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened if these “cute” creatures were still in the neighborhood. An adrenaline rush is absolutely guaranteed. The largest predatory dinosaur - what is it?
Deinocheirus - a terrible hand
Presumably, the size of this “baby” was about 20 meters. To date, only two forelimbs of this dinosaur have been found in Mongolia. All that remains is to find complete skeleton monsters to confirm this championship title. Judging by the size of its front legs (2.4 meters), this is indeed the largest predator dinosaur that lived on our earth.
70 million years ago, Deinocheirus was significantly larger than all existing theropods (meat-eating dinosaurs). He looked like a huge ostrich with long forelimbs. Thanks to such “hands,” he climbed trees perfectly and, with the help of sharp, powerful claws, instantly tore apart his prey.
Egyptian spinosaurus - spiny lizard
The seven-ton beauty, measuring from 12 to 17 meters, is considered one of the largest predatory dinosaurs of the prehistoric past. Its narrow, elongated skull is shaped like the head of a crocodile. It is believed that he lived both on land and in water, but only hunted aquatic life. The latest discovery of the remains of a Spinosaurus in Morocco proved that it moved on four legs, and not on two, as previously thought.
The hump on the back with a layer of fat made it possible to preserve energy reserves for periods of drought. Stenosaurus had sharp teeth and powerful front paws, which allowed it to easily catch large fish and amphibians. This dinosaur had a membrane-fin on its back that could serve as a heat exchanger (1.8 meters).
The “Royal Lizard – Tyrant” measured 14 – 15 in length and 5 – 5.6 meters in height. Tyrannosaurus weighed like huge elephant(6 – 7 tons). He had the most powerful jaws and sharpest teeth of all terrestrial predators. His powerful hind legs were well developed and helped him run quite quickly, although only over short distances. Long distances due to huge weight, were beyond the power of a tyrannosaurus. As a rule, he lay in wait for his victim in ambush and made an attack with lightning speed. Only adult dinosaurs could escape from these powerful jaws, and young and old individuals became prey for this predator.
The tyrannosaurus did not disdain carrion; the corpses of other dinosaurs also served as food for it. These giants hunted alone and strictly adhered to “their” territory. When the female laid eggs, she spent the rest of the time near the nest, which could become tasty prey for other dinosaurs. Due to the gases that filled the atmosphere in those days, 3–4 cubs were born out of the entire litter. Was it possible to survive in such conditions; tyrannosaurs were doomed to extinction.
Giganotosaurus - a giant southern lizard
Presumably, this predator lived in Argentina and had very impressive dimensions - 12 - 13 meters in length and about 4.5 meters in height. These inhabitants of Patagonia united in packs to hunt large herbivorous dinosaurs, but individually they could only cope with old and sick individuals. Gigantosaurs did not disdain carrion.
Throughout the history of the Late Cretaceous period, this species can also be classified as the largest predatory dinosaur in the world. Many remains of Tarbosaurus began to be found in the 40s of the last century, which allows us to draw a portrait of this handsome man. These predators lived in China and, possibly, Mongolia 70-80 million years ago.
Bipedal five-ton predators moved on hind legs, and the forelimbs were disproportionately small with two toes on each paw. Tarbosaurus hunted small herbivorous dinosaurs, but could also eat carrion. Due to their instability, tarbosaurs did not run very fast, and therefore preferred to ambush prey.
Carcharodontosaurus - sharp-toothed lizard
This representative of carnivorous dinosaurs lived in Africa; its remains were found in Algeria and Morocco. The length of this monster was about 12 meters, weighing up to 6 tons. The first discoveries of the remains of Carcharodontosaurus were made back in 1925 by French paleontologists. The predator moved on two powerful hind legs, the forelimbs were weak. He also had a long, elongated skull, reminiscent of wide scissors. The predator's body ended with a long tail.
Carcharadontosaurs hunted most often on flat terrain and could develop very good speed for such gigantic size. Sometimes they wandered into coastal areas and there they had conflicts over prey with another representative of predatory dinosaurs - Spinosaurus.
Bahariyasaurus
Another representative of African carnivorous dinosaurs. He allegedly lived in the territory of modern Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco. The length of the predator is 11.9 meters and weighs 4 tons. He had powerful hind limbs, but paleontologists have not yet been able to find the front limbs, as well as the skull, so one can only guess about its image. It is believed that Bahariyasaurus was quite mobile, and hunted near bodies of water for smaller aquatic inhabitants, such as turtles.