The Future

Part of the The World's Largest Dinosaurs exhibition.

Have paleontologists already found the world's largest dinosaur? Look at it this way. Sauropods reigned for 140 million years, and scientists have only been digging for about 150 years. Is it likely they've already unearthed the very biggest? Here's one reason scientists think the biggest dinosaur may still be out there.

The Biggest of the Big?

The bone silhouette below belonged to Argentinosaurus huinculensis, currently considered the world's largest dinosaur. The wire outline behind represents a vertebra from another, evidently much larger animal. Its thigh bone alone would have reached an African elephant's shoulder! But the actual fossil has been lost since at least the 1920s.

A slide with the outlines of two vertebrae and text about the fragility of fossil specimens in the 1800s.

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Size and Scale Meet Mamenchisaurus Inside Mamenchisaurus Outside Mamenchisaurus Digging Up Sauropods About the Exhibition Resources For Educators: The World's Largest Dinosaurs Collaborators