{"id":487556,"date":"2026-05-16T10:29:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/487556\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T10:29:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:29:28","slug":"new-dinosaur-weighing-as-much-as-9-elephants-identified-by-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/487556\/","title":{"rendered":"New dinosaur weighing as much as 9 elephants identified by scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">CBS News 24\/7 Live<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Scientists have identified a massive new dinosaur from remains discovered in Thailand, with the creature estimated to have weighed as much as nine adult elephants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The long-necked herbivore stretched 88 feet and weighed about 27 tons, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-026-47482-x?ftag=YHF4eb9d17\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:according to a study;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;according to a study&quot;}\" class=\"link \">according to a study<\/a> published in the journal Scientific Reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It probably roamed what is now Thailand between 100 million and 120 million years ago and is the largest ever found in Southeast Asia, researchers said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They estimated the new dinosaur had the same heft as nine adult Asian elephants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Our dinosaur is big by most people&#8217;s standards \u2014 it likely weighed at least 10 tons more than Dippy the Diplodocus,&#8221; said lead researcher Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, referring to the enormous composite cast previously on display at London&#8217;s Natural History Museum.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"An artist's reconstruction shows the dinosaur whose fossils were unearthed in Thailand. \/ Credit: Patchanop Boonsai\/Handout via Reuters\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"621\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cd4229793b86c7ae200ab5c4bccfdb99.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>An artist&#8217;s reconstruction shows the dinosaur whose fossils were unearthed in Thailand. \/ Credit: Patchanop Boonsai\/Handout via Reuters<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Thai Ph.D. student called the newly discovered sauropod &#8220;the last titan&#8221; because it was unearthed in one the youngest rock formations where dinosaurs are found in Thailand, according to University College London.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The region later became a shallow sea, he added, &#8220;so this may be the last or most recent large sauropod we will find in Southeast Asia.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The first remains of the enormous creature were unearthed a decade ago by locals in northeast Thailand, but the excavation was not completed until 2024, according to the study, published Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The remains partially resembled those of previously discovered sauropods, but had enough unique features to be considered a new species.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It has been dubbed Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis after a &#8220;mythological serpent-like creature found in various Asian cultures, especially in northeastern Thailand, often associated with water and Buddhism, and titan, a giant in Greek mythology,&#8221; the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-026-47482-x#Sec3?ftag=YHF4eb9d17\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:authors write;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;authors write&quot;}\" class=\"link \">authors write<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At the time the Nagatitan roamed the region, the ecosystem&#8217;s largest predator was a relative of the meat-eating dinosaur Carcharodontosaurus, which measured about 26 feet long and weighed about 3.5 tons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;At that size, it was dwarfed by Nagatitan. At full size, Nagatitan likely had very little to fear in terms of predation,&#8221; Sethapanichsakul <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/science\/scientists-dig-up-southeast-asias-largest-dinosaur-thailand-2026-05-14\/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:told the Reuters news agency;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;told the Reuters news agency&quot;}\" class=\"link \">told the Reuters news agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Researcher Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul poses with a front leg bone of the Nagatitan at the Sirindhorn Museum in Thailand in a photograph released May 14, 2026. \/ Credit: Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul\/Handout via Reuters\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"1280\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a940b306e8aeebd41e3ecb55dd1df491.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Researcher Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul poses with a front leg bone of the Nagatitan at the Sirindhorn Museum in Thailand in a photograph released May 14, 2026. \/ Credit: Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul\/Handout via Reuters<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A life-size reconstruction is on display at Bangkok&#8217;s Thainosaur Museum, according to University College London.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In 2023, a dinosaur skeleton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/dinosaur-skeleton-thailand-scientists-minimocursor-phunoiensis-150-million-years\/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:uncovered by scientists in northeastern Thailand;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;uncovered by scientists in northeastern Thailand&quot;}\" class=\"link \">uncovered by scientists in northeastern Thailand<\/a> was also deemed to be a newly discovered species. The skeleton of Minimocursor phunoiensis \u2014 which lived 150 million years ago on what is now the Khorat Plateau \u2014 represented &#8220;one of the best-preserved dinosaurs ever found in Southeast Asia,&#8221; scientists said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CBS News 24\/7 Live Scientists have identified a massive new dinosaur from remains discovered in Thailand, with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[135943,18,19,17,212812,212811,212810,133,4434,391,22553,461],"class_list":{"0":"post-487556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-asian-elephants","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-london39s-natural-history-museum","13":"tag-newly-discovered-species","14":"tag-northeast-thailand","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-southeast-asia","17":"tag-thailand","18":"tag-university-college-london","19":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116583790912417000","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}