Patagotitan

Patagotitan is a truly colossal titanosaurian sauropod that inhabited Chubut Province, Argentina, around 101 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. Unlike many giant titanosaurs known only from scraps, Patagotitan was described from an extraordinary deposit containing more than 200 bones representing multiple young adult individuals. This wealth of material allowed researchers to construct a remarkably accurate skeletal model, revealing a creature stretching roughly 37 metres in length and tipping the scales at around 55 to 65 tonnes. With enormous pillared limbs, a soaring neck, and a long tail, Patagotitan was an unstoppable high-reaching herbivore, browsing dense canopy vegetation across the lush, forested plains of ancient Patagonia.

Excavations yielded over two hundred bones belonging to at least six different individuals preserved together at a single site.

Where and when

Patagotitan lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 102 to 100 million years ago (Albian age). Its remains come from Argentina, in the Cerro Barcino Formation.

The numbers

Length 36 m (estimates run from 35 to 37 m). Mass about 57 t. Hip height about 6.5 m. That is 21.2 human-lengths, or 3.21 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

Compare Patagotitan with a bus Place on the timeline