Illustration from the Museum of Natural History showing Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorums. Researchers at Stony Brook University hypothesize that the neck of the dinosaur species was more than 15 meters long.
photo: dpa
Discovered 35 years ago, a dinosaur has now been recreated from its fossil remains. Its neck length should be a good 15 metres. For comparison: a giraffe is about 2.5 meters long.
DrDinosaurs may have a new record holder for neck length – at least for now. Researchers led by Andrew Moore of Stony Brook University in New York came to this conclusion, as reported by the British news agency PA.
“At 15 meters long, Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum appears to be the record holder – at least until something longer is discovered,” the paleontologist was quoted as saying. This corresponds to the length of the giraffes’ six necks.
Fossil remains were discovered as early as 1987
Dinosaur species lived in what is now East Asia and other parts of the world more than 160 million years ago. Fossil remains of the animals were discovered in China in 1987. Although only a few bones were found, researchers have now been able to reconstruct the size and appearance of Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum using complete skeletons of closely related dinosaurs. The extremely long neck made up about half of the animals’ total length. Their skull was very small in relation to their bodies.
Using tomography, scientists have found that giants, like many birds, have hollow vertebrae. The animals also had neck ribs about four meters long, which provided stability – but also made the neck somewhat immobile. According to the researchers, dinosaurs could not lift themselves like giraffes.
The new findings about the dinosaur have been published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.