Scientists have excavated fossils of Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, the largest dinosaur ever known in Southeast Asia, in Chaiyaphum province in northeastern Thailand.
Nagatitan belongs to the sauropod lizard-legged dinosaur group with characteristics of long neck, long tail, small head and four large column-shaped legs. This species lived in the Cretaceous period, about 113 million years ago.
The first fossil was discovered by a local resident many years ago. For many years, scientists have continued to excavate spine, ribs, pelvis and leg bones, in which the anterior arm bone is up to 1.78m long.
Based on the size of the femur and some other types of bones, the research team estimated Nagatitan to be nearly 27m long and weigh from 25 to 28 tons.
Mr. Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a postgraduate student in paleontology at University College London and the main author of the work published in the journal Scientific Reports, said that Nagatitan may be a plant-eating species with a diet consisting of kim leaves and sesame seeds, plants that do not require much chewing.
According to researchers, the area now Thailand at that time had a subtropical climate with sparse forests, meadows and many rivers. Nagatitan lived with many other dinosaur species, such as the flying python pterosaur, crocodile and freshwater shark.
The largest predator in this ecosystem is a relative of the carnivorous dinosaur Carcharodontosaurus in Africa, about 8m long and weighing about 3.5 tons. However, researchers believe that adult Nagatitans have almost no natural enemies due to their excessive size.
Mr. Paul Upchurch, co-author of the study, said that postropodal dinosaurs develop very quickly after hatching to avoid being hunted. When they reach a large size, they become more difficult to attack.
The name Nagatitan is inspired by Naga, a snake-like creature in Asian beliefs that often appears in Thai temples.
According to research, Nagatitan is the youngest afterropod in terms of geology ever discovered in Southeast Asia, and also provides more data on the diversity of dinosaurs in this region.
