“It may seem that Australia’s largest dinosaurs were all part of a large happy family,” said one of the leading researchers, Dr. Scott Hocknull. BBC.
In 2006, Robyn and Stuart Mackenzie rode motorcycles through their sheep and cattle farm in the Australian outback. Suddenly they spotted something that could look like large, black rocks. Upon closer inspection, the suspected rocks appeared to be dinosaur bones.
After further help from paleontologists, it was determined that the bones belonged to a new dinosaur species that is the largest ever found in Australia – as well as one of the largest in the world.
Weighed around 70 tons
Australotitan Cooperensis, a long-necked herbivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous period, is estimated to have weighed around 70 tons. The dinosaur, which is often called “the southern titan”, is said to have been between 25 meters and 30 meters long, and must have been very similar to the dinosaur species Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus in appearance. It lived in southwestern Queensland about 92 to 96 million years ago, when Australia was linked to Antarctica.
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The dinosaur has been nicknamed Cooper, after it was found near the freshwater Cooper Creek.
Paleontologists have been working for the past decade to identify Cooper. They have distinguished it from other known species by comparing scans of the bones with other so-called sauropods.
Sauropods were herbivorous dinosaurs, known for their size. They had small heads, long necks, long tails and thick, pillar-like legs.
COOPER: Scientists are digging for dinosaur fossils in the area around Cooper Creek. It was after the bones of “Cooper” were found. Photo: AFP / The Eromanga Natural History Museum
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Found in 2006
The first bones from Cooper were excavated in 2006 and 2007, by paleontologists at the Queensland Museum and the Eromaga Natural History Museum. After the excavation, the team began a long process of removing the stone that buried Cooper’s bones. They explain on their own website that this was “necessary to be able to identify and compare each bone correctly”.
Researchers say that many of the remains were found intact. While working on the bone remains, the team found that Cooper was closely related to three other sauropod species: Wintonotitan, Diamantinasaurus and Savannasaurus.
One of the leading researchers, Dr. Scott Hocknull, noticed cracks and bruises on some of Cooper’s legs, suggesting that after his death it was stepped on by other sauropods.
– We came across a tread zone, which is basically trampled mud that has solidified and hardened to a stone shelf, Hocknull says.
DIGITAL REPLICATION: 3D scanning technology allows scientists to compare fossilized bones of huge dinosaurs and view these digital replicas virtually. Photo: Reuters / Eromanga Natural History Museum
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The find indicates that the area was either a walkway for dinosaurs, or more likely the edge of an isolated pond where the dinosaurs came to drink.
– We know that they actually walked in the area. It was not just bones that were washed in and preserved in mud, says Hocknull.
