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Argentinosaurus tops list as scientists calculate weight of 426 dinosaurs

Argentinosaurus could really throw his weight around.

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Reuters
Some of the dinosaurs "weighed" in the study. Image: Reuters
Some of the dinosaurs "weighed" in the study. Image: Reuters
Argentinosaurus could really throw his weight around.

Scientists on Tuesday unveiled body-weight estimates for an astounding 426 different dinosaur species using a formula based on the thickness of their leg bones, crowning the truly immense long-necked Argentinosaurus as the biggest of them all.

That plant-eating dinosaur weighed an earth-shaking 90 tonnes when it lived about 90 million years ago in Argentina. It is the largest known land creature in the planet's history.

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" Argentinosaurus, that's the champion," said Oxford University palaeontologist Dr Roger Benson, who led the study.

"It's colossal."

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In their dinosaur "weigh-in", the scientists included birds, which arose roughly 150 million years ago within a group of feathered dinosaurs called maniraptorans. A sparrow-sized bird called Qiliania that lived about 120 million years ago in China earned the distinction of being the smallest dinosaur, weighing 15 grams.

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