‘The sheer scale is extraordinary’: meet the titanosaur that dwarfs Dippy the diplodocus

It will be the largest exhibit in the British museum. The skeleton of a titanosaur will be displayed at the Natural History Museum in London in the spring of 2019.

One of the most massive creatures ever to have walked on Earth, Patagotitan mayorum was a 57 ton monster that would have shook the ground as it stomped over homelands which now form modern Patagonia. The museum's most famous dinosaur, Dippy the diplodocus, used to loom over its main gallery, but its skeleton is 5 metres taller.

The scale of this creature is extraordinary. When you look at it next to an elephant, it dwarfs them. It's not easy.

A huge thigh bone was discovered in 2010 by a ranch owner in Patagonia. More than 200 pieces of skeleton, the remains of at least six individual animals, were dug up in Argentina.

The skeleton of these bones will be on display in London in March.

According to the exhibition's lead curator, the number of bones uncovered is a treasure trove. It means we know more about this species than we do about other dinosaurs.

Near the end of the dinosaurs' reign on Earth, Patagotitan mayorum lived. Science now knows that it was one of the biggest titanosaurs of all time. These creatures were built with a huge spine, a large neck, and a tail to balance them out.

If you wanted to hang around the back end of one of these animals, you would not want to eat plants and leaves. Some people think that the dinosaurslched out so much methane that they contributed to the greenhouse heating that had the planet in its grip.

They were smaller than a human baby, Marron said. A dinosaur egg that is 15 cm in diameter is on display at the exhibition. The animal grew to 37 metres from that point.

There are several mysteries surrounding Patagotitan mayorum. The remains of big dinosaurs can be found in many places, but there are also giant titanosaurs in the area. I wonder if there is something special about the ecology of the region at this time or if we have just been unlucky in not finding titanosaur remains elsewhere.

It's not known why the animals died so close together. All of them died at the same site. What's the reason? What could have happened? It's not clear, but the mystery adds to the story of these wonderful animals.

Life as the biggest dinosaur will open on March 31, 2019.