Dreadnoughtus facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dreadnoughtus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 84–66Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeletal restoration showing known elements
Scientific classification
Genus:	Dreadnoughtus
Species:	schrani

Dreadnoughtus is a type of giant dinosaur called a titanosaur. Its name means "fears nothing," which fits because it was incredibly huge! Scientists found its fossilized skeleton in Argentina. These rocks show that Dreadnoughtus lived about 84 to 66 million years ago. This was during the Upper Cretaceous period.

Dreadnoughtus is one of the biggest land animals ever found. It might even be the heaviest land animal that scientists have ever calculated. They figure out its mass (or weight) by measuring its leg bones.

The skeleton of Dreadnoughtus schrani is very special. It is the most complete skeleton ever found for such a large titanosaur dinosaur. This means scientists found many of its bones. Out of about 256 bones in its whole body, they found 116. This makes the skeleton about 45% complete. If you only count the bones not including the skull, it's almost 59% complete!

Scientists also think this Dreadnoughtus was still growing when it died. They looked at its humerus (upper arm bone) using a method called histology. This showed that the bone was still forming quickly. This means the dinosaur could have grown even bigger if it had lived longer!

How Big Was Dreadnoughtus?

It's tricky to know the exact size and weight of dinosaurs that lived long ago. Scientists make educated guesses, which they call "estimates." These estimates are never perfectly exact because we don't have all the information. It's like making a really good guess when you don't have all the pieces of a puzzle.

Different scientists might come up with different estimates for the same dinosaur. This is normal because they use different ways to calculate. For Dreadnoughtus, its weight has been estimated in a few ways:

• Around 59.3 metric tons (which is about 65.4 short tons, or 59,291 kilograms).
• Between 35 and 40 metric tons (39 to 44 short tons).
• About 30 metric tons (33 short tons), if its body was 20% shorter.

As you can see, the heaviest and lightest estimates are very different. This shows how hard it is to be exact when estimating the size of extinct animals.

Dreadnoughtus Dimensions

Here are some of the estimated measurements for Dreadnoughtus:

Comparing Dreadnoughtus to Other Dinosaurs

To give you an idea of how big Dreadnoughtus was, here's how its estimated weight compares to some other well-known sauropod dinosaurs:

Images for kids

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  Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara in Patagonia with the Dreadnoughtus femur (thighbone)

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  Lacovara with fibula and humerus of Dreadnoughtus

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  Life restoration

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  Composite image of the fossil caudal (tail) vertebrae

See also

In Spanish: Dreadnoughtus schrani para niños