Ruyangosaurus

Ruyangosaurus was a colossally large titanosauriform sauropod that lived in what is now central China during the Early Cretaceous. It is known from a partial postcranial skeleton that includes giant neck, back, and tail vertebrae, ribs, and limb elements. Due to the enormous size of these surviving bones, particularly a dorsal vertebra measuring over a metre wide across the transverse processes, palaeontologists estimate it reached between 30 and 35 metres in total length. As an immense quadrupedal herbivore, it required vast amounts of vegetation daily, browsing high in the Mesozoic canopy with its powerful, elongated neck. Its precise placement among somphospondylians remains a subject of ongoing debate, but it represents one of the largest land animals ever discovered in Asia.

It ranks among the largest known Asian dinosaurs, possessing massive vertebrae measuring over a metre in height.

Where and when

Ruyangosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 125 to 100.5 million years ago (Aptian-Albian age). Its remains come from China, in the Haoling Formation.

The numbers

Length 33 m (estimates run from 30 to 35 m). Mass about 59 t. Hip height about 6.5 m. That is 19.1 human-lengths, or 2.9 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, first ma, last ma, hip height.

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