Despite the dinosaur’s extinction millions of years ago by what is thought to be believed by doom by a wayward comet, scientists have recently discovered an entirely new species that may have roamed the world 100 million years ago.
The species has been nicknamed the Sibirosaurus, a creature though to be related to the giant Titanosaurs, which are believed to have grown 40 meters tall and weigh 100 tonnes.
Titanosaurs were some of the biggest dinosaurs ever discovered up to date, and were the equivalent of NINE African elephants, or NINE double decker buses, at the astonishing 100 tonnes.
Titanosaurs have very long necks, whip-like tails, tiny heads, and thick stump-like legs. They were strict herbivores and were armored with small bony plates along their backs, which helped protect them from oncoming predators as they grazed. Titanosaurs are a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs that includes the Saltasaurus, Diplodocus, and Brachiosaurus, and now the newly discovered Sibirosaurus.
It is believed some of the species used their long tails to crack whip like to deter predators, or make sonic booms. They are named after the mythical Titans of Ancient Greece, giant Demi-gods of incredible strength that rivaled the Gods.
The find by experts from the Tomsk State University was made in Russia, in Western Siberia, near the village of Shestakovo in the Kemerovo region in the Southwest, whose fossils were encased in rocks on the bank of the neighboring Kiya River. The university extracted fragments from fossils from the sandstone there. The area is known to be a dinosaur necropolis.
Based on preliminary examinations, the Sibirosaurus is thought to have been a very large herbivore, and rivaled the Titanosaurs, at 20 meters tall.
Experts say it took years of research just to uncover that it was its own separate species.
Dr. Stephan Ivantsov, a scientist from the university working in the Laboratory for Mesozoic and Cenozoic Continental Ecosystems said, “When we discovered this finding, it was only clear that the remains belonged to a very large herbivorous dinosaur from the sauropods group. It was the first scientifically described dinosaur from this group in Russia.”
The dinosaur is thought have lived in the Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. The newly discovered giant is named Sibirosaurus, after Sibir, the Russian word for Siberia. Experts believe a foot that was found at the same location in 1995 may also belong to the newly discovered species.
For anyone interested in traveling to see them, the bones, including a shoulder blade, and a cervical vertebrae, will be exhibited permanently in Paleontological Museum at Tomsk State University.