Apatosaurus Louisae And Other Dinosaur Masses Mistakenly Supersized, Says Study

Monday, June 22, 2009 - 04:56 in Paleontology & Archaeology

The largest animals ever to have walked the face of the earth just got a little smaller, according to a paper published today in the Zoological Society of London's Journal of Zoology. Why aren't they as big as previously thought?   The researchers say that the original statistical model used to calculate dinosaur mass is flawed, which led to them suggesting dinosaurs have been oversized.  Widely cited estimates for the mass of Apatosaurus louisae, one of the largest of the dinosaurs, may be double that of its actual mass instead of the commonly cited 33-38 tons it may be as light as 18 tons.  read more

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