![]() ![]() "In my view, this method is unworkable and lacks replicability, which is one of the hallmarks of science," Lacovara said. Experts also have to speculate how "blubbery or shrink-wrapped" the skin on these dinosaurs was. Argentinosaurus is just 3.5% complete.) In addition, researchers have to guess how much space the lungs and other air-filled structures took up. ( Dreadnoughtus is the most complete, at 70%. This is challenging, because most titanosaur skeletons are incomplete. Volumetric method: In this approach, researchers determine the body volume of the dinosaur and use that number to calculate the animal's weight. The largest known dinosaur that has a humerus and femur bone from the same individual is the 77-million-year-old Dreadnoughtus, a 65-ton (59 metric tons) titanosaur that Lacovara and his team excavated in Argentina. "Examples of this are Notocolossus and Paralititan." "Obviously, this introduces even more uncertainty," he said. Moreover, if only a single bone (a humerus or a femur) is used, the proportions of the missing bone are a guess. ![]() If the humerus and femur bone are from different individuals, as they were with Patagotitan, "the result is an estimate of a composite individual that never actually existed," Lacovara said. , the structural properties of those four bones are going to correlate closely with the mass." "It makes sense," Lacovara said, "since all quadrupeds have to put all of the weight of the body on just those four bones. The result is highly correlative with the animal's mass. Then, they plug these numbers in to a formula. Minimum shaft circumference method: Scientists measure the minimum circumference of the humerus (the upper arm bone) and femur (the thigh bone) from the same individual. Which raises the question: How do scientists calculate the weight of an extinct animal? According to Lacovara, there are three ways. The dinosaur model of Patagotitan is larger than the exhibition area, so it welcomes guests to the museum at the elevators, as they enter the hall at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. ![]()
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