New Study Claims Supersaurus Was the Longest Dinosaur That Ever Lived
Jocelyne LeBlanc November 17, 2021
According to a recent study, Supersaurus was the longest dinosaur that ever roamed the Earth. Supersaurus had exceptionally long necks and tails. While it was previously stated that they were one of the longest dinosaurs to have ever walked the Earth, new analysis has claimed that it actually was the longest.
Approximately 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period, Supersaurus measured more than 128 feet (39 meters) in length and possibly as long as 137 feet (42 meters). This means that it would have been longer than any other dinosaur including Diplodocus that measured up to 108 feet in length (33 meters).
Image of a Diplodocus hallorum. (Via Wikipedia)
The first ever Supersaurus bones were discovered back in 1972 by Jim Jensen who collected them at the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry in Colorado. Included in his findings was a scapulocoracoid (two fused bones that are part of the shoulder girdle) that measured 8 feet in length (2.4 meters).
There are numerous other bones from the quarry that have yet to be analyzed. But many of them have already been studied by Brian Curtice who is a paleontologist at the Arizona Museum of Natural History and he found five new neck vertebrae, two new tail vertebrae, one new back vertebra, and a left pubis.
By analyzing the bones in greater detail, he was able to calculate more precise measurements of the Supersaurus, such as its neck being longer than 50 feet (15 meters) and its tail measured as long as 60 feet (18 meters).
In a SVP video, Curtice described the massive size of the Supersaurus by saying, “That is a crazy length — longer than three yellow school buses nose to tail.” “And considering we never find the largest individual in the fossil record, how much longer could these animals have gotten?”
Two other partial dinosaur skeletons that have been found in Wyoming are believed to belong to the Supersaurus species – they have been nicknamed “Jimbo” and “Goliath”.
Supersaurus image based on “Jimbo”. (Via Wikipedia)
Interestingly, while Supersaurus is the longest dinosaur that ever lived, it is surprisingly not the heaviest as that title belongs to a titanosaur species named Argentinosaurus that weighed as much as 90 tons – nearly twice as heavy as Supersaurus.
More pictures of what the Supersaurus would have looked like can be viewed here.https://www.livescience.com/supersaurus-longest-dinosaur-on-record
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