Scientists announced the discovery of the giant dinosaurs on Friday, October 21, 2016. The findings further clarify the origin of the four-legged dinosaurs (sauropods) in Australia. The dinosaur had a long neck was named Savannasaurus elliottorum.
Her name refers to David Elliott, Chairman of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum (AAOD) in Queensland, and is the first person who discovered the dinosaur in 2005.
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| Savannasaurus elliottorum was found in Queensland during a sheep muster. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1f3VhV) |
Identification of the giant dinosaur is not easy. AAOD team and the Queensland Museum has been digging since September 2005. However, it took a decade to remove the bones out of the rocks where deposited.
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| Reconstruction of the new dinosaur Savannasaurus elliottorum showing the bones discovered. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1f3Vah) |
Dr. Stephen Poropat of AAOD in the publication in the journal Scientific Report states that Savannasaurus entered in the class of titanosaurs, the largest land animals that ever lived on Earth. Until now, 20-25 per cent of the animal skeletons have been found. Most of the torso, front legs, and pelvis. "Because they are animals that are very large, then of course it takes time for the sediment to bury before the predator comes," says Poropat.
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| Dr Stephen Poropat with five giant back bones from Savannasaurus elliottorum. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1f3Vah) |
Savannasaurus expected to be a medium size titanosaurs, has a long neck and a short tail. By the length of 12-15 meters, half the length of another dinosaur called diplodocus. According to Poropat, the most prominent characteristic of savannasaurus is the hip with the size of up to 1.5 meters.
The origins of Australia's titanosaurs
Besides Savannasaurus, Poropat also find other dinosaur, Diamantinasaurus matildae. The dinosaurs were first discovered in 2009 that included the first sauropod found in the land of kangaroos.
And the discovery of new species of Savannasaurus and Diamantinasaurus again reviving the debates over the origins of Autralia's titanosaurs. The previous study of Australian megafauna stated, that the Australia's titanosaurs most similar to dinosaurs from Laurasia, ancient continent in the northern hemisphere.
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| A partial skull of this beast, Diamantinasaurus matildae, was also found by the researchers. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1f3Vah) |
However, Dr Poropat said, it is not unreasonable given the location of the two super continent Gondwana and Laurasia were miles apart. And he said the newly study shows Savannasaurus and Diamantinasaurus actually more closely related to species from South America.
"Assume that the Australian dinosaur shows closer relationship with the dinosaurs of Europe and Asia are always confusing," he said.
"With the improved record of fossils in South America as well as Australia fossil record continues to increase, our understanding about the closeness of our dinosaurs with the dinosaurs from South America to be better," he added.
Futhermore, Dr. Poropat said that the Savannasaurus expected to come to Australia about 105 million years ago from South America. Titanosaurs utilize global warm temperatures at that time to leave South America via Antarctica to Australia when the three of the continents were still connected.
An important publication
Dr. Adam Yates, a senior Earth Sciences curator at the Museum Northern Territory, believes the findings in the paper was valid. "This paper is important because previously nobody ever seriously thought about how we could get the dinosaurs as we have, so I think it's significant," he said.
Titanosaurs represents one of the "last gray area" in human understanding of the story of the dinosaurs. "They're everywhere and are found throughout the world. However, the fossils are often incomplete, and consequently our understanding of the interrelationships of different titanosaurs quite confusing and we do not have a pretty good family tree about them," he said.
Dr Yates said, the titanosaurs migration from South America is much more reasonable. Titanosaurs is a group of dinosaurs were relatively young and has not spread up to the Cretaceous era. "When the time comes, the only land route to Australia is through the Antarctic," said Dr. Yates. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | ABC NEWS]
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