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A GIANT two-legged dinosaur that dwarfed the T-rex stomped through the Gobi Desert over 65 million years ago.
The proof? Its enormous footprints, the largest of which measures three feet across.
Enormous footprints belonging to one of Earth’s biggest two-legged dinosaurs have been found[/caption]
The Saurolophus dinosaur was a true giant, and would’ve been able to walk on two legs[/caption]
Fossilised footprints were discovered in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia[/caption]
Scientists say the footprints are the largest ever found belonging to a “bipedal” dinosaur – ones that used two legs to walk.
The supersized dino in question is Saurolophus, described by researchers as a “Mongolian giant”.
It would’ve reached around 50 feet in length – outsizing the fearsome 40-foot Tyrannosaurus rex.
Now scientists are hoping that the creature’s massive remains might be found nearby.
The prehistoric stompings were found among a large collection of fossilised footprints located in the western Gobi Desert.
It included a “continuous sequence of 13 fossilised footprints” that spanned nearly 80 feet, identified by a team from Japan‘s Okayama University of Science.
“The identification of 14 trackways, including one found before 2018, enables the analysis of posture, walking style, speed, and group behaviour,” said Dr Shiobu Ishigaki, who led the team.
He added that that the discovery revealed “details that cannot be inferred from skeletal fossils”.
“Our next goal is to uncover the full skeleton of the large Saurolophus responsible for these footprints,” said Dr Ishigaki, the director of the OUS Museum of Dinosaur Research.
The Saurolophus lived between 72.1 and 66 million years ago.
It belongs to a type of dinosaur known as the hadrosaurids, which were bulky duck-billed herbivores.
The largest skeleton of a hadrosaurid to date belonged to a Shantungosaurus found in Shandong Province, China.
But scientists hope that similarly giant remains of a Saurolophus may be hidden in the Gobi Desert.
Saurolophus remains were first found in Canada in 1911, with the nearly-complete skeleton now on display in the American Museum of Natural History.
A giant 50-foot Saurolophus is believed to have created the footprints[/caption]
Scientists are now hopeful that the remains of the Saurolophus responsible for the footprints may be found nearby[/caption]
They roamed in Asia – in what is now Mongolia – as well as North America. This range included the Horseshoe Canyon in Utah.
Saurolophus would have had a spike-like crest that projected up and back from its skull.
And although it was capable of walking on two legs, it may have also moved around on all fours.
They would’ve weighed several tonnes, with skulls measuring four feet in length.
A timeline of life on Earth
Here's a brief history of life on our planet
- 4.6billion years ago – the origin of Earth
- 3.8billion years ago – first life appears on Earth
- 2.1billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve
- 1.5billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge
- 550million years ago – first arthropods evolve
- 530million years ago – first fish appear
- 470million years ago – first land plants appear
- 380million years ago – forests emerge on Earth
- 370million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land
- 320million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve
- 230million years ago – dinosaurs evolve
- 200million years ago – mammals appear
- 150million years ago – earliest birds evolve
- 130million years ago – first flowering plants
- 100million years ago – earliest bees
- 55million years ago – hares and rabbits appear
- 30million years ago – first cats evolve
- 20million years ago – great apes evolve
- 7million years ago –first human ancestors appear
- 2million years ago – Homo erectus appears
- 300,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves
- 50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised
- 40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction
Its diet included a variety of plants that would’ve been ground up using “dental batteries” containing hundreds of teeth.
This creature was one of the largest bipedal animals ever known to have lived in Mongolia.
Saurolophus would’ve eaten a variety of plants, grinding them up with powerful sets of teeth[/caption]
The Tyrannosaurus rex was a fearsome beast – but scientists believe that the creature that created the Gobi Desert footprints was even bigger[/caption]
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