Little Giants

Brachiosaurus is one of the most recognizable dinosaurs of all. The huge, long necked dinosaur was a staple in Jurassic Park and The Land Before Time, and their size is one of their most distinguishable features: the largest fossil of a brachiosaur would have weighed about 28.7 tons, and it wasn’t even an adult. Their family, the titanosaurs, have a new member, which is the same in all but one factor: it’s size.

Magyarosaurs dacus is the name of a titanosaur species that was found in Transylvania, Romania in 1895. The fossil was dated at 75-70 million years ago. Current studies on the bone structure shows that the bones belonged to a full-grown individual, and not just a younger member.

Koen Stein and other paleontologists at the Steinmann Institute Division of Paleontology at the University of Bonn in Germany used slices of bone from multiple members of the species and microscopes to study blood vessels and the bone matrices to determine the ages of the individuals. They were able to tell that they full grown adults.

The species was first discovered by the sister of a paleontologist on their estate. At the time, pygmy and dwarf species were being found on islands, and the idea that Magyarosaurs dacus could also be a dwarf came to mind, but there was no way to prove it at the time. Most dwarfs lived on islands, where the ecosystems could not support larger creatures. Transylvania might have been an island in the past, and with neither enough food to support such a body, or predators to put them at risk, they were able to adapt into a smaller body to fit the environment better.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36948247/ns/technology_and_science-science/