TITANOSAURUS
Titanosaurus indicus
Meaning: "Titanic Lizard"
📊 STATS
Size comparison:
As long as a large school bus!
📖 ABOUT TITANOSAURUS
Meet Titanosaurus, the 'Titanic Lizard'! This giant plant-eater roamed India, Argentina and Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous period. Get ready to learn about this colossal creature!
Titanosaurus, meaning 'Titanic Lizard,' was a massive dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 72 to 66 million years ago! Imagine a plant-eating giant stomping through what is now India, Argentina, and Madagascar. Titanosaurus belonged to a group of dinosaurs called sauropods, known for their long necks and tails, and four sturdy legs. They were part of the Titanosauridae family, the last group of long-necked sauropods before the dinosaurs went extinct.
While Titanosaurus wasn't the biggest of the titanosaurs (some were even larger!), it was still incredibly huge, growing up to 12 meters long and 4 meters tall! That's longer than a school bus. Its long neck helped it reach tasty leaves high up in the trees. Although scientists haven't found a complete skeleton, they know Titanosaurus was a quadruped, meaning it walked on all four legs. It probably moved slowly, around 8 kilometers per hour, munching on plants all day long. Because only partial fossils have been discovered, there's still a lot to learn about this amazing dinosaur!
🔬 CLASSIFICATION
- Group
- Sauropoda
- Family
- Titanosauridae
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (100-66 Ma)
- Era
- 72.0 - 66.0 million years ago
🗺️ DISCOVERY
- Year
- 1877
- Discovered by
- Richard Lydekker
- Location
- Madhya Pradesh, India
- Fossils found in
- India, Argentina, Madagascar
🎨 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION
Artistic reconstruction of Titanosaurus based on fossil evidence
🗺️ WHERE FOSSILS WERE FOUND
India, Argentina, Madagascar
🤓 FUN FACTS
- ✨ Titanosaurus lived at the same time as T-Rex, but in different parts of the world!
- ✨ Titanosaurus fossils have been found in India, Argentina, and Madagascar, showing they lived in different environments!
- ✨ Titanosaurus was a herbivore, meaning it only ate plants – leaves, twigs, and maybe even some fruits!
- ✨ The name Titanosaurus means 'Titanic Lizard' because of its enormous size.
- ✨ Scientists are still discovering new things about Titanosaurus based on the fossils they find!
💡 DID YOU KNOW?
Get this! Even though Titanosaurus was HUGE, its brain was probably about the size of a tennis ball!
