A massive dinosaur unearthed near a pond in northeastern Thailand has been formally identified as the largest dinosaur ever discovered in Southeast Asia. The animal, named Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, was a long-necked sauropod that likely weighed around 27 tonnes and stretched approximately 27 meters, or 89 feet, from head to tail.
The discovery was described in the journal Scientific Reports and led by scientists from University College London, Mahasarakham University, Suranaree University of Technology, and Thailand's Sirindhorn Museum. The fossils were first uncovered about a decade ago, and researchers have spent years analyzing vertebrae, ribs, pelvis bones, and leg bones to build a picture of the animal's size and classification.
For scale, 27 tonnes is roughly equivalent to nine adult Asian elephants. A single front leg bone from the animal measured 1.78 meters long, about the height of an average human.
The name Nagatitan combines "Naga," a legendary serpent from Thai and Southeast Asian mythology, with "Titan," referencing the giants of Greek mythology. The species name chaiyaphumensis honors Chaiyaphum province, where the fossils were found. It is the 14th dinosaur species officially named in Thailand.
Nagatitan belonged to the sauropods, the group of giant plant-eating dinosaurs known for their long necks and tails, the same broad family as Diplodocus and Brontosaurus. It lived during the Early Cretaceous period, between 100 and 120 million years ago, in a region scientists believe was dry to semi-dry at the time, conditions that sauropods appear to have favored.
Lead author Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a Thai PhD student at UCL Earth Sciences, offered some context on where Nagatitan fits among the giants of the dinosaur world. "Our dinosaur is big by most people's standards -- it likely weighed at least 10 tonnes more than Dippy the Diplodocus (Diplodocus carnegii). However, it is still dwarfed by sauropods like Patagotitan (60 tonnes) or Ruyangosaurus (50 tonnes)," he said.
Sethapanichsakul also explained why the animal carries the informal title of Thailand's last titan. "We refer to Nagatitan as 'the last titan' of Thailand. That is because it was discovered in Thailand's youngest dinosaur-bearing rock formation. Younger rocks laid down towards the end of the time of the dinosaurs are unlikely to contain dinosaur remains because the region by then had become a shallow sea. So this may be the last or most recent large sauropod we will find in Southeast Asia," he said, according to Science Daily.
Researchers also noted that the animal's long neck and tail may have played a role in thermoregulation, helping the animal release body heat in the warm climate of Early Cretaceous Southeast Asia.
