Kenneth Lacovara, associate professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, who discovered the dinosaur skeleton, standing with the tibia (shinbone) and humerus (upper arm bone) from Dreadnoughtus schrani.
Dreadnoughtus had a 37-foot-long neck, 30-foot tail, and weighed an estimated 65 tons, making it the most massive land animal known.
Credit: Drexel University
Massive creature
This is an artist's rendering of the massive dinosaur Dreadnoughtusschrani.In
life, Dreadnoughtus was an herbivore
that likely spent much of its life eating massive quantities of plants to
maintain its enormous body size.
Credit: Illustration: Jennifer Hall
Huge skeleton unearthed
The skeleton of the dinosaur at the site where it was discovered and unearthed by a group of researchers in southern Patagonia, Argentina.
Credit: Kenneth Lacovara
Excavation site
Kenneth Lacovara, an associate professor at Drexel University, who led the excavation and analysis of the skeleton, surrounded by fossilized bones of Dreadnoughtus schrani at the excavation site in Argentina.
Credit: Kenneth Lacovara
Massive tail
The beautifully articulated tail of Dreadnoughtus schrani at the excavation site in Argentina.
Credit: Kenneth Lacovara
Bones from the giant's tail
A pair of bones called a 'chevron' which occur along the bottom of the dinosaur's tail. In Dreadnoughtus, the lower portions of the chevron bones have an unusually large surface for muscle attachment, indicating that this dinosaur’s tail was extremely muscular and powerful.
Credit: Kenneth Lacovara
The monstrous tail
Kenneth Lacovara in his lab with the 30-foot dinosaur tail, stretching along the length of the wall and around the corner.
Credit: Drexel University
Bones in the lab
Bones of Dreadnoughtus schrani in Lacovara’s fossil lab at Drexel University. Scapula (shoulder blade) (standing against divider); Cervical (neck) vertebra (on pallet), surrounded by preserved neck tendons; Sternal (chest) plates (front of table); Dorsal (mid-back) vertebrae (rear of table).
Credit: Kenneth Lacovara
3D laser scan
Lacovara’s team prepared 3D laser scans of most of the fossil bones from Dreadnoughtus schrani, making them available to other researchers for future study.
Credit: Drexel University
30-foot-long tail
This composite image shows the tail bones of the Dreadnoughtus schrani specimen. This individual’s tail would have been 30 feet in length.
Credit: Kenneth Lacovara and Valentina Feldman
Rib bone
Kenneth Lacovara with a partial rib of Dreadnoughtus at excavation site in Argentina.
