• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

What Was The Largest Animal To Ever Walk The Earth?

April 27, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

We currently live on Earth alongside the most massive animal that’s ever lived: the blue whale, a colossal marine mammal that can measure up to 33.5 meters (110 feet) and weigh more than 150,000 kilograms (330,000 pounds). However, when it comes to land-dwelling animals, much larger beasts have roamed compared to today’s giants.

The largest terrestrial animal to have ever walked the planet is a record currently held by Patagotitan mayorum, which stretched 37 meters (121 feet) in length. They weighed an estimated 70 tons, or 70,000 kilograms (154,323 pounds) — the equivalent of 10 African elephants, the largest terrestrial species alive today. Although longer than a blue whale, the plodding dinosaur is considerably lighter and nowhere near as massive.

Advertisement

This prehistoric heavyweight was a sauropod, a subgroup of dinosaurs known for their tremendously long necks and equally lengthy tails, as well as their four trunk-like legs that stationed them on the ground like pillars. Other well-known members of this gangly gang include Diplodocus, Brontosaurus, and Patosaurus.

As the name suggests, Patagotitan mayorum lived in the Patagonia region of modern-day southern Argentina. By no coincidence, this land was also the home of Argentinosaurus, which was previously thought to be the largest dinosaur before Patagotitan mayorum was found. 

Some contend that Argentinosaurus is larger than Patagotitan and, therefore, should keep its crown as the largest ever terrestrial animal. Truth be told, size estimates are, by their very nature, estimates. Complete specimens have never been discovered and their size is based on incomplete remains, leaving some margin of error.



Advertisement

Six fossils of the humungous species were unearthed in Patagonia and used to first describe the species in 2017, much to the amazement of scientists and the public alike. The sediment around the remains suggests they lived around 100 million years ago in the Cretaceous period. 

Based on their shape and stature, it’s reasonable to assume Patagotitan mayorum was a herbivore that used its lanky neck to munch tall trees. Its lumbering weight also suggests the dinosaur was not a ferocious monster, but a gentle giant.  

“I don’t think they were scary at all. They were probably massive big slow-moving animals,” Diego Pol, a palaeontologist from the Egidio Feruglio Paleontology Museum in Argentina who described the species, said in 2017 upon its discovery. 

“Getting up. Walking around. Trying to run. It’s really challenging for large animals,” he added.

Advertisement

Being this size does have its benefits, though. It’s hard to imagine any predator would be able to take on a fully-grown sauropod. In fact, protection from predators is likely to be one of the main selective pressures that allowed Patagotitan mayorum to reach this size.

Patagotitan mayorum is not the uncontested champion, and there is always the chance a larger species could be unearthed. Excavations of South America are still in their infancy compared to the Northern Hemisphere where dinosaurs have been extensively studied since the 19th century. Considering the number of titanosaurs that have been recovered from rocky Patagonia, it’s a possibility that a larger species might someday be found. 

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Sudan military-civilian tensions reach low point in wake of coup attempt
  2. VC Peter Relan helped launched Discord; now he’s “brewing” up two new incubators
  3. A Map To The Gods: The Sajama Lines Are An Ancient Mystery
  4. Snoring Can Affect Health And Relationships – Here’s How To Stop

Source Link: What Was The Largest Animal To Ever Walk The Earth?

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • First Known Observations Of Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry In Special Particle Decay
  • In 1973, NASA Sent Two Spiders Into Space To See If They Can Spin Webs – And They Learnt A Lot
  • Meet The Many Species Of Freaky Looking “Assassin Spiders” That Only Eat Other Spiders
  • Your Dog’s TV Preferences Might Reveal Their Personality
  • Some Human Gut Bacteria Can Absorb Harmful Toxic “Forever Chemicals” So They Can Be Pooped Out
  • You Could Float Through 10 Countries Before The World’s Most International River Spat You Out
  • Enormous Coronal Hole And Beast-Like Crawling Prominences Dazzle On The Active Sun
  • Dramatic Drone Footage Of Iceland’s Latest Volcanic Eruption Shows An Epic Scene From Hell
  • A Shrimp That Lives In A Tree? Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains Are Home To Some Seriously Strange Wildlife
  • Is NASA’s Claim That Saturn Could Float On Water Really True?
  • Pangea Proxima: This Is What Planet Earth May Look Like 250 Million Years In The Future
  • The Story Of Dogxim, The Fox-Dog Hybrid That Shouldn’t Have Existed
  • Neanderthal Butchers From Different Caves Had Their Own Specialities
  • On July 20, The US And Canada Will Witness The Little-Known Seven Sisters Eclipse
  • First-Ever Giant Ichthyosaur Soft Tissues Preserved In “Extraordinary Fossil” Dating Back 183 Million Years
  • The Worst Day In History For Humans
  • Could You Survive Being Sucked Into A Tornado?
  • AI Aliens: What If Extraterrestrial Life Is Artificially Intelligent?
  • Lighting Hit Apollo 12 Just 36.5 Seconds After Launch – “After That It Got Very Interesting”
  • Northwest Africa 12264: Ancient Meteorite May Change Our Timeline Of The Solar System
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version