Biggest Dinosaurs that ever lived on this planet

Of course every one know some of the most popular Dino's but that does not mean that they are also the biggest Dino's that ever lived on this planet.

In fact the best known carnivore, the T-Rex, may look like the scariest dinosaur of them all, and has been crown a the king of the Dino's. He's not the biggest predator of that time, as you will discover.

We sorted out the 4 biggest dinosaurs ever discovered by category.


Giganotosaurus, the biggest carnivore
Gigantosaurus


The Giganotosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 98 to 97 million years ago. He's considered to be the biggest carnivore that ever lived on this planet. The holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia in 1993, and is almost 70% complete. The animal was named Giganotosaurus carolinii. In 1995, the genus name translates as ‘giant southern lizard’ and the specific name honors the discoverer, Rubén D. Carolini. A dentary bone, a tooth and some tracks, discovered before the holotype, were later assigned to this animal. The genus attracted much interest and became part of a scientific debate about the maximum sizes of theropod dinosaurs.

Giganotosaurus was one of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, but the exact size has been hard to determine due to the incompleteness of the remains found so far. Estimates for the most complete specimen range from a length of 12 to 13 m (39 to 43 ft), a skull 1.53 to 1.80 m (5.0 to 5.9 ft) in length, and a weight of 4.2 to 13.8 t (4.6 to 15.2 short tons). The dentary bone that belonged to a supposedly larger individual has been used to extrapolate a length of 13.2 m (43 ft). Some researchers have found the animal to be larger than Tyrannosaurus, which has historically been considered the largest theropod, while others have found them to be roughly equal in size, and the largest size estimates for Giganotosaurus exaggerated. The skull was low, with rugose (rough and wrinkled) nasal bones and a ridge-like crest on the lacrimal bone in front of the eye. The front of the lower jaw was flattened, and had a downwards projecting process (or ‘chin’) at the tip. The teeth were compressed sideways and had serrations. The neck was strong and the pectoral girdle proportionally small.

Giganotosaurus is part of the Carcharodontosauridae family which includes other very large theropods, such as the Mapusaurus and Carcharodontosaurus. The Giganotosaurus is thought to have been homeothermic (a type of ‘warm-bloodedness’), with a metabolism between that of a mammal and a reptile, which would have enabled fast growth. It may have been relatively fast moving, with a calculated maximal running speed of 14 m/s (50 km/h; 31 mph). It would have been capable of closing its jaws quickly, capturing and bringing down prey by delivering powerful bites. The ‘chin’ may have helped in resisting stress when a bite was delivered against prey.


Argentinosaurus, the biggest herbivore
Argentinosaurus


The Argentinosaurus at Museo Municipal Carmen Funes, Plaza Huincul, Neuquén, Argentina. Image by William Irvin Sellers, Lee Margetts, Rodolfo Aníbal Coria, Phillip Lars Manning.

Argentinosaurus has been known to science since 1993 and is a sauropoda (this family of dinosaurs has long necs, long tales and 4 feets) Evidence of it was originally discovered in 1987, when a fossil the size of a fully grown human being was unearthed on a ranch in Argentina. The rancher thought the fossil specimen was a large chunk of petrified wood, and it wasn’t until 1993 that it was reclassified as a single vertebra belonging to a new species of sauropod. Although no complete skeletons of Argentinosaurus have been found, estimates of the dinosaur’s length (based on projections of the size of the rest of the body using existing fossils) range from 37 to 40 meters (about 121 to 131 feet), and it was thought to have weighed 90 to 100 metric tons (99 to 110 tons). By these measures, Argentinosaurus was the largest dinosaur, as well as the largest land animal, ever known.


Quetzalcoalcoatlus, the biggest flying pterosaur
Quetzalcoalcoatlus


The Quetzalcoatlus was first found in Texas and is named after an Aztec god. 

This flying dino can be match with a giraffe in size or a small plan.  It lived during the Late Cretaceous perioad (70 to 65 million years ago).
It had an Cressna-size wings a long neck, a long pointy beak and a cam on this head.

In texas some Quetzalcoalcoatlus has been found with a wingspan of around 36 feet (10,9 meter) (the half of the length of a bowling lane. They believe it could flew at speeds up to 100 miles per hour orf 160 km per hour.  He weighed around 500 pound (226;7 kg)  and stood 8 feet (2,43 meter) tall at the shoulder, with a 10 foot (3,048 meter) long neck and a 6 foot (1,82 meter) long pointy beak.
As you may noticed this animal was a pterosaur, that meaning means a flying reptile. So technically it’s not a dinosaur.


Ichthyosaurus, the biggest sea dinosaur ever lived on earth.
Ichthyosaurus


In the UK they found the largest sea-dinosaur with a length of 85 feet (25,9 meters)  that lived 205 million years ago during the late Triassic. He’s almost as large as a blue whale. The shapes of the body of the Ichthyosaurus is similar to that of a well known dolphin. 

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