Scientists dig up Southeast Asia's largest dinosaur in Thailand
Yahoo • • science
Key Points:
- Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, the largest-known dinosaur from Southeast Asia, was a massive sauropod measuring nearly 90 feet long and weighing between 25 to 28 tons, discovered in Thailand's northeastern province of Chaiyaphum.
- The dinosaur lived about 113 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period in a subtropical environment with forests, savanna-like areas, and rivers teeming with crocodiles and fish.
- Nagatitan was likely a bulk browser feeding on high volumes of vegetation such as conifers and seed ferns, and due to its enormous size, it had few natural predators, with only smaller carnivores posing threats to vulnerable individuals.
- This sauropod belongs to a subgroup characterized by lightened skeletons with internal air sacs, which allowed it to thrive in a period of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperatures.
- Nagatitan sheds light on the diversity and evolution of sauropods in Southeast Asia, marking the region's last large "titan" before it became a shallow sea later in the Cretaceous.