Dinosaur That Vied for 'World's Biggest' Gets Downsized
Dreadnoughtus might not have been as heavy as originally thought, but it was still as big as an airplane.
The four-legged, long-necked animal—think something Brontosaurus-like—stomped around present-day Argentina during the Upper Cretaceous, between 84 million and 66 million years ago. Its name means “fearer of nothing,” and a full-grown Dreadnoughtus probably didn’t worry much about being eaten (fiery death from above is a different matter).
At roughly 85 feet long, Dreadnoughtus would have been able to simultaneously sit in all of first and economy class on a classic Boeing 737. Original estimates of its heft, based on the circumference of its leg bones, suggest Dreadnoughtus probably came in at around 60 tons—or a little bit less than two (empty) Boeing 737s.
That estimate made Dreadnoughtus a contender for the much-debated title of biggest dinosaur, in league with giants like
