This huge, newly discovered new Gopana-Songwensi Titan lived 1 million years ago. A new study found that during the Cretaceous period, a huge "wide-necked" dinosaur (a dinosaur weighing two cars) stamped its feet on the land of prehistoric Africa. Weighing 5 tons,

is a tall Titan (a herbivorous dinosaur with a long neck and a long tail); When its neck stretched, its head reached 13 feet (4 meters) in the air. Researchers say that the remains of this dinosaur were found in rocks in southwestern Tanzania, with a history of 1 million to 7 million years.

It is not uncommon to find Titan in South America, but it is rare to find this giant dinosaur in Africa, which makes this newly discovered creature a remarkable discovery. [Titan meets the largest dinosaur on record]

The researchers named it Titan Aurshingopana Songwensis, and they said it was 26 feet (8 meters) long, about the size of a killer whale. The researchers wrote in the research report that its generic name means "wide neck" in Swahili, while "shingo" and "pana" mean "neck" and "wide" in Swahili respectively, referring to the giant's "bulbous" cervical vertebrae. The name of this species commemorates the Songwe region in Tanzania's Rift Valley, where dinosaurs were first discovered in 22 and excavated in the following years.

After analyzing the bone fossils of Song Wensi, the researchers realized that dinosaurs had more similarities with South American Titan than other African Titan. Among these fossils, ancient insects dug holes shortly after animals died

"Shingopana has brothers and sisters in South America, while other African dragons are only distant relatives." Eric Gorscak, the chief researcher, who recently graduated from Ohio University and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Chicago Museum of Natural History, said in a statement that

the division between plates can explain these differences. Researchers say there is evidence that northern and southern Africa were separated during the Cretaceous period, which lasted from about 145.5 million years ago to 65.5 million years ago.

in southern Africa, Madagascar and Antarctica split eastward and southward, and then gradually "pulled apart" from South America to the north. At the same time, North Africa maintains contact with South America. In addition, differences in topography and climate further isolate southern Africa, the researchers said.

"This discovery shows that in Cretaceous, the faunas (animals) in North Africa and Southern Africa were different," Judy Skog, the project director of the Earth Science Department of the National Science Foundation, said in a statement, which supported the research. "At that time, dinosaurs in southern Africa were more closely related to dinosaurs in South America, and their distribution was wider than we knew.

Shenlong is likely to roam in ancient southern Africa with the Titan "rukwathan bisepultus" which weighed nearly 8 tons and was discovered by the same team in 214. However, both of these titanosaurs are dwarfed by the largest titanosaur (and dinosaur) ever recorded: Patago Titan Mayoroum from South America, weighing 69 tons, also lived about 1 million years ago.

"We only know a little about biodiversity and the environment in which they lived on the African continent in the Late Cretaceous," said Patrick O'Connor, a research collaborator of Ohio University anatomy professor, in a statement.

This study was published online in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology today (August 24th).

is an original article about life science.