Graphic of a child pointing at a display of a Titanosaur fossil skeleton with text reading "Talk To A Titanosaur" across the bottom.

Hi, I’m Bruno, and I’m at the American Museum of Natural History. Today I’m in the fossil halls to interview a titanosaur (tie-TAN-o-SAWR). It’s one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered!

Let’s find out how this dinosaur lived millions of years ago, how it came to the Museum, and what it’s like to be one of the biggest members of the collection.

Bruno: I heard you’re not a native New Yorker. Where are you from originally?

A map of South America with La Flecha on the coast of Argentina highlighted.

Titanosaur: My fossils were discovered in South America, in a region of Argentina called Patagonia. I tell you, that area has really changed. My fossils were found buried in a desert, but 100 million years ago that area was a forest.

Bruno: Did they find anything else out there?

Titanosaur: They sure did. They found five other titanosaurs!

Bruno: So how were your fossils discovered? That must have been quite a shock for the people who found them.

Titanosaur: Imagine how shocked I was! After all, my fossils had been buried for about 100 million years. It started in 2012, when a couple of ranchers stumbled on a few of my fossils. They told scientists at a nearby museum. Before long, a team of scientists from the museum began excavating the site. Then in 2014, they found me!

A paleontological excavation site with exposed fossil bones and a campsite for the scientists in the background.

Bruno: When did the scientists realize they had found a new species?

Titanosaur: One way they knew was by the shape of my thigh bone, or femur. It was unlike that of any other known species.

Illustrated outline of a titanosaur with the location of the femur bone highlighted, and a photograph of a femur bone beside the illustration.

Bruno: How did they realize you were so big?

Titanosaur: They knew that by comparing the size of my femur (thigh bone) and humerus (upper arm bone). Scientists estimate I was about 70 tons!

Illustrated outline of a titanosaur with the location of the humerus and femur bones highlighted.

Bruno: So we know what titanosaurs looked like from fossils. But can fossils tell us anything about how they lived?

Many titanosaur footprints preserved in rock.

Titanosaur: Yes! Fossils give a lot of clues about how we lived. For example, titanosaur trackways have been found all over the world. These footprints show how we (like other sauropods) traveled in groups called herds.

Image credits

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Image Credits:

illustrations of Bruno and titanosaur, Ebony Glenn; illustration of saurapod parade, ©Raúl Martin; excavation, ©Dr. Alejandro Otero; titanosaur modeling and installation, ©AMNH/D.Finnin; all other illustrations and photos, ©AMNH.