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EPIB Trail
Volume 7, Issue 1
Dreadnoughtus—The Biggest Land Creature Ever!
By Chris Wilkinson What is taller than the Cook Office Building and longer than an Olympic swimming pool? If you guessed “Dreadnoughtus, the largest land‐based animal ever discovered”, then congratula ons—you are as big of a dino‐nerd as I am. This massive dinosaur was so big that excava ng the monster took a period of four years. Archeologists were able to es mate from the skeleton that during its me of existence, the tan weighed in at 65 tons and measured 85 feet from nose to tail, making it far and beyond the largest land based organism to ever have roamed the earth and almost twice as large as the be er‐known Brachiosaurus. It is an incredible find for archaeologists (and dino‐enthusiasts such as myself), but it is not just because of the nature of the find. Discovered in Argen na’s southwestern Patagonia, Dreadnoughtus is unique in its completeness—more than 70% of the mammoth’s skeleton was found intact, notably more than the typical 10% of its brethren. Due to the completeness of significant bones—including the humerus and femur—the scien sts were able to determine the animal’s mass and growth poten al. The key word in that sentence, which should be causing you to recoil in your seat slightly, would be “poten al,”—as in this 85 feet long, two story tall monster was not fully grown. It is difficult to tell what the maximum size of this skyscraper could have been, but odds are it would make Stephen Spielberg weep at the missed opportuni es. Back to Index
