Reconstructing the world's largest dinosaur

In 2013, a shepherd discovered a massive fossilized dinosaur bone protruding from a rock at the La Flecha ranch in the middle of the central Patagonian desert.

Researchers from the Museo de Paleontology Egidio Feruglio (MEF) in Trelew, Argentina, set up camp at the site and began excavating. They discovered the largest femur ever found, measuring 2.4 meters in length. After the excavation was completed, they found 223 bones belonging to seven specimens. A fiberglass model of the skeleton of this Cretaceous dinosaur is on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York (AMNH).

Titanosaur skeleton on display at the Museum of Natural History in New York, USA. Photo: Scientific American.

The 5.8-meter-high and 37.5-meter-long model reveals the image of a giant plant-eating dinosaur belonging to the titanosaur group, which lived in the forests of southernmost South America (Patagonia) 95-100 million years ago. This could be the largest dinosaur ever discovered but has no official scientific name.

Because the bones were found in mixed condition, the team was unable to create a complete specimen. This means the skeleton on display in New York is a combination of old bones and reconstruction techniques based on details from closely related species.

The dinosaur's 2.4-meter-long thigh bone. Photo: BBC.

Research Casting International (RCI) of Trenton, Ontario, Canada, was commissioned to reconstruct the dinosaur skeleton. They began work before the bones were excavated from the sedimentary rock. In February 2015, the restoration team examined the half-recovered fossils at the excavation site and began digital scanning, said Peter May, president of RCI. They returned again in May 2015 to scan the rest.

According to May, rebuilding an animal of such size was no easy task. To avoid cables hanging from the ceiling that could turn the dinosaur skeleton into a biological suspension bridge, May's team used a rigid steel frame inside to support the animal's long neck and tail. The dinosaur reconstruction took 3.5 months, with 4-6 people casting the frame and 3-10 people assembling the skeleton.

According to VnExpress