Australia confirms discovery of new species of dinosaur

It took scientists 15 years to come to their verdict. The new species was given the scientific name Australotitan coprensis. Now also known as “Cooper” to simplify the name, It was one of the largest Australian dinosaurs and one of the largest animals known to have ever walked the surface of the Earth.

🚨 Say hello to Australia’s largest dinosaur and newest species, Australotitan coprensis – the southern Titan! Nicknamed the Cooper, as long as it is a basketball court and has been scientifically described and named by the Queensland Museum & Tweet embed Paleontologists. © Vlad Konstantinov pic.twitter.com/X40eD01joN

– Queensland Museum (qldmuseum) June 7, 2021

This dinosaur belongs to the group of titanosaurs that lived nearly 100 million years ago. Specimens of this group of long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs are found on all continents.

It is estimated that the monster was between 5 and 6.5 meters in height and 25-30 meters in length, making it the largest Australian dinosaur ever known.

But how big is it really? So you can get an idea in the next picture, you can see Dr. Scott Hocknall next to the left front leg of the dinosaur.

The Australian Coopensis is now the largest dinosaur species known from Australia!
So what is the large size? Here Dr. Scott Hocknell standing beside the front left leg of a dinosaur which is estimated to be 5 to 6.5 meters high at the hip. 😱 📸 Kristen Robertson pic.twitter.com/xRbYETiKPj

– Queensland Museum (qldmuseum) June 9, 2021

“If limb size comparisons are worth anything, this new titanosaur is one of the five largest in the world,” said Robin Mackenzie of the Eromanga Museum of Natural History in southwestern (northeast) Queensland.

Fossilized dinosaur bones were discovered in 2006 on his family’s farm, about 1,000 kilometers west of Brisbane, near the town of Iromanga.. Its name, “Cooper,” refers to the place where it was discovered, Cooper Basin, in the Australian Outback, where the river also flows, Cooper Creek.

This discovery was initially kept a secret while researchers patiently carried out excavations. The skeleton was first shown to the public in 2007.

Scott Hocknall, a paleontologist at the Museum of Queensland, noted that it was difficult to confirm that Cooper was a new species: “The process was very long and tedious.”

The research, which included 3-D comparisons of Cooper’s bones with those of his close cousins, was published Monday, June 7 in the scientific journal Berg.

Many other dinosaur bones have been found in the same area, Hocknoll said, adding that more excavations are necessary. “Such results are just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

The largest dinosaur known to date is the Patagonian mayor, “Titan of Patagonia,” which was discovered in Argentina in 2013. Classification as a new species was then published in a 2017 article in the Journal of the Royal Society.

This discovery drew attention not only due to the extreme dimensions of the bones, but also because such a large number of remains will allow us to obtain a complete anatomical reconstruction of the largest herbivores in the history of our planet. Il: J. Gonzalez pic.twitter.com/eQmOJkIHKy

– MuseoEgidioFeruglio (mefpatagonia) June 7, 2021

The Mayor of Patagonia, discovered in Chubut and dated 101.6 years, is known today all over the world. Currently, studies of its fossils continue to provide clues about the evolution of dinosaurs and gigantism. PH: W. Mora # MuseumWeek2021#OnceUponAtimeMW pic.twitter.com/jFGZzKdBOB

– MuseoEgidioFeruglio (mefpatagonia) June 7, 2021

Paleontologists calculated in this case that it would have weighed about 70 tons, which is equivalent to about 10 African elephants, and was about 37 meters long and eight meters high.

(taken from euronews)