World’s largest dinosaur remains found in Argentina

Palaeontologists in Argentina unearth what they say is the remains of one of the world’s largest dinosaurs.

“This is the largest femur that is known from any animal that has walked on earth. It is very important, not only because of the size, but also because of the amount of bones that we are finding of these gigantic animals.”

According to the team, the fossils, which were found in Patagonia, belonged to a sauropod, with initial tests dating them at around 90 million years old.

“We aren’t only finding the remains of these giant dinosaurs, we are also finding a large amount of teeth from carnivorous animals which will permit us to learn what types of food this group of dinosaurs eats. With that, we will have a very good idea of how they were and how the ecosystem functioned some 100 million years ago.”

The palaeontologists began excavating the site since last year, after a ranch employee said he’d stumbled upon some fossils, with the team expecting to find at least seven more sets of remains.

Difficult words: palaeontologist (somebody who studies fossils), femur (thigh bone), initial (first), carnivorous (feeding on other animals), permit (allow), excavate (dig), stumble (lose one’s balance for a moment).