Was the Titanosaurus Real? Dinosaurs from Jurassic World: Rebirth

There’s a Titanosaurus in the new Jurassic World: Rebirth movie. Is there such a thing as a Titanosaurus?

Sadly, probably not. But that doesn't mean it can't turn up in Jurassic World: Rebirth. After all, the more recent movies in the Jurassic saga are all about inventing excitingly dangerous new dinosaurs! The Indominus Rex and Indoraptor didn’t exist in real life either, but that doesn’t make them any less awesome, am I right? Or am I right?

Let's find out about the real dinosaurs behind the mythical Titanosaurus:

So where does the idea of the Titanosaurus come from then?

 In 1877, fossils of an exciting new dinosaur were described. Super-brainy-dino-historians (or palaeontologists if you want their official job title) named this dinosaur the Titanosaurus Indicus. It was thought to be one of the biggest dinosaurs that ever walked the planet.

Could this be the skeleton of a Titanosaurus? Sadly not, this is the incredibly large Argentinosaurus. Image courtesy of Jeremy Thompson.

What went wrong?

Unfortunately, experts very quickly started to question whether this dinosaur actually existed. The fossils could have belonged to any number of other dinosaurs and there weren’t enough fossils from the Titanosaurus Indicus to confidently say it was new and unique. Because of this, the likelihood of the Titanosaurus Indicus having actually lived, let alone walked the planet, is incredibly doubtful.

So the Titanosaurus isn’t actually a real dinosaur? That’s a shame.

Agreed. But on the plus side, the Titanosaurus Indicus gave its name to a new group of dinosaurs. And (good news!) this group of dinosaurs were actually real. Plus they were genuinely the biggest creatures to ever walk on Earth. This group of dinosaurs became known as the Titanosaurs.

A type of Titanosaur called a Patagotitan. Image courtesy of UnexpectedDinoLesson.

But I thought the biggest dinosaurs were sauropods?

You’re right! Some of the biggest dinosaurs to walk the earth belong to a group of species called Sauropods. You’ll know a lot of Sauropods already. Popular favourites include Diplodocus, Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus. But the prize for the world’s largest dinosaurs go to a sub-group of Sauropods called the Titanosaurs.

What were Titanosaurs like?

Like all Sauropods, Titanosaurs were known for having long necks, long legs and long tails.

So, what makes them different to a regular Sauropod?

Well, for one, they were much, much bigger! They were all round taller, stockier and wider than your everyday diplodocus.

Diagram showing the size and weight of a Titanosaur (in this case a Dreadnoughtus) against one of the heaviest inventions in the modern world (the Boeing 737-900 plane) and other large dinosaurs such as the Brachiosaurus and the T-Rex. Image courtesy of ArcaneHalveKnot.

Will I know the names of any Titanosaurs?

Perhaps. I’m pretty sure one of them was called Alan. And another was called Spencer. And one of them was definitely called Frederica.

No. I mean, will I know any of the names of the species of Titanosaurs?

Oh! Right! Well, one of the most well-known Titanosaurs is Argentinosaurus. Experts think the Argentinosaurus could weigh up to 70,000KG. That’s the same weight as around 12 African elephants!

Other Titanosaurs include the recently named Patagotitan (named in 2017), the armour plated Saltasaurus and the swamp-living Paralititan.

So, are Titanosaurs the biggest creatures to have ever lived?

Not quite! That title goes to the frankly enormous Blue Whale which is far bigger than any dinosaur. But Titanosaurs were the biggest dinosaurs and are thought to be the largest creatures to have ever walked on land.

The largest known land animal in Earth's history - a Titanosaur called the Dreadnoughtus. Image courtesy of ArcaneHalveKnot.

Which Titanosaur gets the prize for being the biggest?

There’s a lot of competition between the Titanosaur species for who gets to wear the crown. A nearly complete fossil of the Dreadnoughtus was found in 2006. Because of this we can calculate it’s size and weight more accurately than other Titanosaurs. The Dreadnoughtus would grow to around 26 metres long and would weigh around 60,000KG. This makes it the largest known land animal in Earth’s history.

Are the other Titanosaurs this big too?

Other Titanosaurs could be even bigger. If palaeontologists (those super-brainy-dino-historians again!) manage to find more fossils of the Patagotitan and Argentinosaurus in the future, experts think that both these species of Titanosaurs could easily beat the Dreadnoughtus in size. Those super-brainy-dino-historians estimate that the Patagotitan might have reached a length of around 37 metres and the Argentinosaurus might have grown to 40 metres long! So, keep your fingers crossed for more exciting Titanosaur fossil discoveries soon!