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Dinosaur Records
LONGEST
The longest dinosaurs were the diplodocids (click on Dinosaur Gallery for picture). Diplodocids had very long necks and tails. Seismosaurus' (see skeleton photo on Home Page) total length is uncertain due to missing vertebra, but has been estimated to be 110 feet. Supersaurus reached a length of 138 feet. A recent, unnamed diplodocid (unofficially known as the Rio Negro giant) found in the Patagonia region of Argentina appears to be even longer, with an estimated length between 157 and 167 feet.
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HEAVIEST
The heaviest dinosaurs were the titanosaurids (see picture at left). Titanosaurids had shorter necks and tails than diplodocids but were more massively built. Argentinosaurus, an immense titanosaurid, reached 110 to 130 feet in length and weighed 90 to 110 tons. |
TALLEST
The tallest dinosaurs were the brachiosaurids (see picture at right). They had very long necks and relatively short tails, and were unusual in that their forelegs were longer than their back legs, adding considerably to their total height. Sauroposeidon reached a height of 60 feet and weighed 60 tons. It could have looked over the top of a six story building
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LARGEST CARNIVORE
For nearly a century Tyrannosaurus rex (click on Dinosaur Gallery for picture) was believed to be the largest carnivorous dinosaur that ever lived. Since 1993, several carnivorous dinosaurs have been discovered that are bigger than T. rex. Spinosaurus (see picture at left) was probably the largest meat-eating dinosaur of all. A piece of jawbone, recently discovered, suggests that this huge beast was sixty feet long with an eight-foot skull.
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Although technically not a dinosaur, Mosasaurus (see picture at right) also reached 60 feet in length. This terrifying sea dragon had a massive skull over six feet long with huge, sharp teeth and a voracious appetite, eating anything it could catch. Mosasaurus is an excellent candidate for the leviathan of Job 41.
A Shonisaurus skeleton 72 feet long was recently found on the Sikanni River in British Columbia, but this giant icthyosaur had no teeth and may have been a filter feeder that lived on plankton and other small marine organisms.
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SMALLEST
The smallest adult dinosaur ever discovered is Compsognathus (see picture at left). This theropod reached two feet in length, much of which was its relatively long tail and weighed less than some chickens.
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FASTEST
The fastest dinosaurs were the ornithomimids (see picture at right). Dinosaur speeds are estimated from fossilized track ways and dinosaur morphology (shape and structure). Dromiceiomimus, Ornithomimus, and Gallimimus were built much like ostriches with toothless beaks, long legs, and hollow bones. They probably had speeds comparable to an ostrich, which can run 45 mph. Dromaeosaurids (raptors) were probably almost as fast for short distances, but lacked the ornithomimids endurance.
Though marine animals and not dinosaurs, some of the ichthyosaurs may have been even faster. Eurhinosaurus, a very unusual ichthyosaur, was very streamlined with an upper jaw elongated into a spear much like that of a billfish (swordfish, marlin, sailfish), which it resembles. Since members of the billfish family are the fastest of all marine animals, having been timed at speeds up to 70 mph, Eurhinosaurus could probably have reached similar speeds. Its high speed, combined with large size (25 to 30 feet), and a sharp bill would have made it a fearsome predator indeed.
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BEST-ARMORED
The best-armored dinosaurs were the ankylosaurids (see picture at left). These herbivores had heavy, armor plates covering their backs and sides, rows of spikes along the sides of their bodies, horns that projected from the backs of their heads, and a bony club on the end of their tails. They even had bony plates protecting their eyes. They were up to 30 feet long and weighed up to six tons. They were probably almost invulnerable to attack from predators.
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LARGEST SKULL
Pentaceratops (see picture at right) had largest skull of any dinosaur. The total skull's length from the end of the animal's nose to the back edge of its bony frill was 9.8 feet.
Torosaurus, a long-frilled ceratopsian, and Triceratops (click on Dinosaur Gallery for picture), a massive, short-frilled ceratopsian, both had skulls reaching a length of around nine feet.
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MOST TEETH
The plant-eating hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs (see picture at left) had by far the greatest number of teeth - about 960 cheek teeth.
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LONGEST NECK
The longest neck may have been that of Sauroposeidon, a huge brachiosaurid. Its 40+-foot neck, combined with its long front legs gave it a total height of at least 60 feet.
The diplodocids; Seismosaurus, Supersaurus and Mamenchisaurus also had necks approaching 40 feet, and a recently discovered, unnamed diplodocid (unofficially known as the Rio Negro giant) from the Patagonian region of Argentina probably has an even longer neck.
LARGEST EGGS
The largest eggs are those of the sauropods (see picture at right). Though not many sauropod eggs have been found, Hypselosaurus, a medium-sized sauropod, had eggs a foot long with a liquid capacity of six pints. Recent sauropod eggs of an uncertain species, foung near Tongyong City, Korea, are even larger, measuring 16 inches in length.
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