This Is the Largest Dinosaur in History

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Apr 8, 7:00PM EDT

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This Is the Largest Dinosaur in History — © walbyent / iStock via Getty Images

The “age of dinosaurs,” officially known as the Mesozoic Era, lasted from 252 to 66 million years ago. Scientists believe that period ended when an asteroid hit Earth. This spread vaporized minerals into the air around the globe, in effect creating a lasting winter that made plant growth impossible. Most animal life, deprived of food, was extinguished. (These are 17 cataclysmic events that changed the earth forever.)

Expert observations about the period, particularly about the size and type of dinosaurs, have changed over decades, particularly as new fossils are discovered. These discoveries are so frequent now that the Smithsonian publishes “The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries” each and every year. To date, though, the largest dinosaur in history is the Argentinosaurus.

Last year, a team of researchers with Naturales y Museo, Universidad de Zaragoza, and Universidad Nacional del Comahue found evidence that a so-called titanosaur discovered in Argentina in 2012 was the largest dinosaur in history. It was named Argentinosaurus in honor of its place of discovery. (Today, this is the biggest animal in the world.)

There is some confusion as to whether “size” should be determined by weight or length, but the Argentinosaurus has it covered on both counts: It measures 131 feet in length and weighs 110 tons – 220,000 pounds.

Click here to see the largest dinosaurs in history

The candidate for the largest dinosaur could change again. According to Discovery, the British paleontologist Mary Ann Mantell was the first person to find fossilized bones while she was on a walk in 1822. If humans remain on earth as long as dinosaurs did, there is bound to be another discovery that adds to the long list of “largest dinosaurs”.

15. Shingopana songwensis
> Length: 26 feet
> Weight: 5.5 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Tanzania

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14. Saltasaurus
> Length: 42 feet
> Weight: 7.7-8 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Argentina

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13. Spinosaurus
> Length: 41-59 feet
> Weight: 10 tons
> Diet: Carnivorous
> Fossils found in: Egypt

Ra... (CC BY 3.0) by Nobu Tamura

12. Rapetosaurus krausei
> Length: 49 feet
> Weight: 16 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Madagascar

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11. Diplodocus longus
> Length: 80 feet
> Weight: 16.3 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: North America

Elaltitan lilloi Skeletal Mk II Gunnar Bivens by Bricksmashtv4

Elaltitan lilloi Skeletal Mk II Gunnar Bivens (CC BY-SA 4.0) by Bricksmashtv4

10. Elaltitan lilloi
> Length: 59 feet
> Weight: 60 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Argentina

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9. Brachiosaurus Altithorax
> Length: 59-69 feet
> Weight: 62 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: North America

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8. Giraffatitan brancai
> Length: 74 feet
> Weight: 37.5 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Tanzania

7. Austroposeidon magnificus
> Length: 82 feet
> Weight: 30-32 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Brazil

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Turiasaurus scale (CC BY-SA 4.0) by Dinoguy2

6. Turiasaurus riodevensis
> Length: 118-128 feet
> Weight: 40-48 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Spain

Futalognkosaurus BW (CC BY 3.0) by N. Tamura

5. Futalognkosaurus dukei
> Length: 102-112 feet
> Weight: 42-50 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Argentina

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Dreadnoughtus Published Reconstruction by ArcaneHalveKnot

Dreadnoughtus Published Reconstruction (CC BY-SA 4.0) by ArcaneHalveKnot

4. Dreadnoughtus
> Length: 85 feet
> Weight: 65.4 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Argentina

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3. Sauroposeidon proteles
> Length: 111 feet
> Weight: 55-66 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: North America

Paralititan stromeri by dmitrchel@mail.ru

Paralititan stromeri (CC BY 3.0) by [email protected]

2. Paralititan
> Length: 100 feet
> Weight: 83 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Egypt

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1. Argentinosaurus
> Length: 131 feet
> Weight: 110 tons
> Diet: Herbivorous
> Fossils found in: Argentina

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.