Top Ten Largest Dinosaurs

March 11, 2010

What was the biggest creature to have walked on our earth? The answer is no doubt a dinosaur, and definitely a sauropod. According to estimates, a sauropod may well be the largest creature to have lived on our earth even beating the Blue Whale’s weight of 175 tons and 103 feet. It is not easy to identify the biggest dinosaurs. According to paleontological research the following are the largest dinosaurs that have ever lived. However it is one of the greatest paradoxes that these giant animals that lived on our earth and left just incomplete skeletons.

1. Argentinosaurus

Argentinosaurus is the largest dinosaur whose giant size is supported by evidence. Its remains were found in Argentina and it is named after the same place. It is a giant eater of plants which measured about 120 feet from head to tail. Its weight must have been about 100 tons.

2. Sauroposeidon

Named after the Greek ocean god, Sauroposeidon was also one of the largest dinosaurs. It is said to have weight over 60 tons. This dinosaur was the tallest because evidence proves that it neck alone was 40 feet long!

3. Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus had a mouth similar to that of a crocodile and was also a very heavy animal. This dinosaur was a heavy meat eater and its sail which was an extension of its skin helped it to cool faster. It was also known to be very tall.

4. Quetzalcoatlus

This dinosaur was named after the Aztec god having wings namely Quetzalcoatl. Its wingspan was about 45 feet and it was one of the largest creatures to have lived on this planet. Research hints that this dinosaur may not have filed and must have had a purely land based existence.

5. Liopleurodon

This pliosaur has mixed features of the shark and orca and has thick jaws and large flippers plus a heavy body. They reached a height of over 50 feet, and are thought to have weighed over 30 tens equivalent to the weight of an adult whale.

6. Shantungosaurus

These dinosaurs were the most popular species and were recently discovered in China. They were about 50 feet long and weight over 50 tons and are true herbivores. They have the great skill of running with their two legs to escape attack by other carnivores.

7. Utahraptor

This group of dinosaurs weighed at least 1500 pounds and were about 20 feet long. They lived much before their other cousins who were puny.

8. Moschops

These “mammal like reptiles” looked like a cross between the frog and the crow and were found in the forests of Gondwana. These terrestrial reptiles weighed a few tons and were one of the biggest land animals in history.

9. Sarcosuchus

This group of dinosaurs was also known as “SuperCroc.” They weighed over 8 tons and were 40-foot-long much heavier than the largest crocodiles of today. In spite of their heavy bodies they lived a lifestyle similar to the crocodiles and were found in the rivers of Africa in the middle Cretaceous period.

10. Shonisaurus

Otherwise known as fish lizards these were a batch of hydrodynamic, sleek and big aquatic reptiles that lived in the Triassic period. They weighed about 30 tons and were about 50-foot-long, and had the combined features of a dolphin and blue whale. Nevada’s official state fossil is Shonisaurus.