Amargasaurus
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Amargasaurus is named after the site of its discovery, La Amarga Formation in Argentina, and is a herbivorous dinosaur of the Dicraeosauridae family weighing around 2.9 tons and spanning 9.5m in length. Its long neck and sharp teeth allow it to eat tough vegetation from trees, while the two rows of long spines on its neck and back help Amargasaurus to defend itself from predators – an important characteristic given that this dinosaur has poor hearing and is unable to move at high speeds.
Discovery
The discovery of Amargasaurus came in 1984, when José Bonaparte led a team in excavating a near-complete skeleton from the sedimentary rocks of La Amarga Formation. Despite numerous attempts to unearth more, Bonaparte’s discovery is the only Amargasaurus fossil on record.
Palaeoecology
Amargasaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous period around 120-130 million years ago, and existed alongside other Sauropods including Amargatitanis and Zapalasaurus, as well as Stegosaurus. It lived in groups among the woodlands and creeks of South America, migrating regularly in search of food.
Information
- Era
- Early Cretaceous
- Family
- Dicraeosauridae
- Genus
- Amargasaurus
- height
- 2.7M
- length
- 10.1M
- weight
- 2.9T
- Diet
- Ground Palaeobotany
- Egg batch size
- 1 - 2
