Argentina (Finalists) - Argentinosaurus
Into the World Cup final and with arguably the biggest star in football (Lionel Messi) in their team, Argentinian football fans have a lot be happy about.
Argentina is also home to the largest dinosaur yet classified - the sauropod (long necked dinosaur) Argentinosaurus (although a recent discovery of seven large skeletons, also in Argentina, may mean that Argentinosaurus’ days as the largest dinosaur classified are numbered).
Weighing in at around 90 tonnes, it really is pushing the limits of what is mechanically possible, with some scientists thinking that it had to stay well within the range of motion of its joints to avoid breaking its own bones during movement. Scientists at the University of Manchester have used computer simulations to try and reconstruct the creatures’ movement, and have suggested a speed of 4 to 5 miles per hour.
So who is the little guy in front of Argentinosaurus? That is Giganotosaurus, a dinosaur approximately the size of Tyrannosaurus Rex, also from Argentina. Hopefully that helps to get the true, awesome size of Argentinosaurus into proportion.
Sedg
Image credit (non commercial): Steve Harwood (http://bit.ly/1omwxcD)
Learn more: Argentinosaurus movement computer modellinghttp://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v310/n1/full/scientificamerican0114-17b.html Giganotosaurus is largest Theropod ever found -http://www.proyectodino.com.ar/pdfs/042-0039.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giganotosaurus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentinosaurus