Home Animals Scientists Discover A Huge New Dinosaur That Roamed Across Australia

Scientists Discover A Huge New Dinosaur That Roamed Across Australia

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An artist's impression of the Australian sauropod Savannasaurus elliottorum. (Image by Travis Tischler / © Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History)

This year is continuing to be a great one for paleontologists. First the largest ever dino footprints were discovered, then Brazil’s largest dinosaur was found in a cupboard. Now, a new titanosaur has been named in Australia by the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum (AADM).

The discovery of Savannasaurus ellottorum is significant for paleontologists because it will help put together the puzzle of the distribution of the largest land-living animals. Its name comes from the location in which the specimen was discovered; AADM co-founder David Elliott came across it in the Australian savannah in 2005.

“I was nearly home with the mob — only about a kilometre from the yards — when I spotted a small pile of fossil bone fragments on the ground,” said Elliott during an announcement related to the findings. “I was particularly excited at the time as there were two pieces of a relatively small limb bone and I was hoping it might be a meat-eating theropod dinosaur.”

Savannasaurus ellottorum is no theropod. It’s a completely new genus and species, and its bones are approximately 95 million years old. It took ten years for volunteers and staff of the museum to remove the stone from around the bones to reveal the skeleton — one of the most complete sauropod dinosaur skeletons ever found in Australia.

[vc_btn title=”More on dinosaur discovery” style=”outline” color=”primary” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fhuge-new-dinosaur-australia-2016-10|title:More%20on%20dinosaur%20discovery|target:%20_blank|”][vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”turquoise”]By Lindsay Dodgson, Business Insider, excerpt posted on SouthFloridaReporter.com Oct. 24, 2016 [/vc_message]