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
They estimated the new dinosaur had the same heft as nine adult Asian elephants.<\/p>\n
“Our dinosaur is big by most people’s standards \u2014 it likely weighed at least 10 tons more than Dippy the Diplodocus,” said lead researcher Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, referring to the enormous composite cast previously on display at London’s Natural History Museum.<\/p>\n
![\"Meet](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-05-14t112621z-498608889-rc247la1dyl0-rtrmadp-3-science-dinosaur.jpg#.jpeg\")
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An artist’s reconstruction shows the dinosaur whose fossils were unearthed in Thailand.<\/p>\n
Patchanop Boonsai\/Handout via Reuters<\/p>\n
The Thai Ph.D. student called the newly discovered sauropod “the last titan” because it was unearthed in one the youngest rock formations where dinosaurs are found in Thailand, according to University College London.<\/p>\n
The region later became a shallow sea, he added, “so this may be the last or most recent large sauropod we will find in Southeast Asia.”<\/p>\n
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
The remains partially resembled those of previously discovered sauropods, but had enough unique features to be considered a new species.<\/p>\n
It has been dubbed Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis after a “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,” the authors write<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the time the Nagatitan roamed the region, the ecosystem’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 “At that size, it was dwarfed by Nagatitan. At full size, Nagatitan likely had very little to fear in terms of predation,” Sethapanichsakul told the Reuters news agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul\/Handout via Reuters<\/p>\n A life-size reconstruction is on display at Bangkok’s Thainosaur Museum, according to University College London.<\/p>\n![\"Meet](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-05-14t112623z-329132301-rc2xy5a1u9gv-rtrmadp-3-science-dinosaur.jpg#.jpeg\")
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