Dino card No. 0186 of 2,027

Atacamatitan

Say it: a-TACK-uh-muh-TIE-tan

Name means: “Atacama Desert titan”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Cretaceous

Atacamatitan was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that lived in what is now the Atacama Desert in Chile. It is one of the most complete titanosaur dinosaurs ever found in that country.2

Lived

100 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Tolar Formation, near Conchi Viejo, Atacama Desert, Antofagasta Region, Chile2

Food

Plants3

Length

10 m3

estimate based on fragmentary remains

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 cars parked in a rowas long as 56 bananas end to end

How big was Atacamatitan compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Atacamatitan is known from a right femur, part of a humerus, two back vertebrae, tail vertebrae, ribs, and a possible sternum piece.2

Its fossils were found in a small area of only 2 square metres, and they all belong to one individual.2

This dinosaur lived during the Late Cretaceous period, between about 100 and 66 million years ago.3

Atacamatitan is a titanosaur, a group of sauropods that includes some of the heaviest land animals ever.1

The discovery of Atacamatitan helped confirm that the red sandstones of the Tolar Formation are from the Cretaceous, not the Paleocene.2

Its femur has a unique shape: the shaft gets gradually narrower until two-thirds of its length.2

AI-made picture of Atacamatitan — An AI-made picture of how Atacamatitan might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Atacamatitan

?How big was Atacamatitan?

Nobody knows for sure. Paleontologist Thomas Holtz estimated its weight between 8 and 16 tonnes (about 8,000 to 16,000 kg).1

?Where was Atacamatitan found?

Its fossils were discovered in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, near the town of Conchi Viejo.1

?What did Atacamatitan eat?

It was a plant-eater, like all sauropods.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Atacamatitan
Named by: Kellner et al. 20114
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Lithostrotia4
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria4
Age of the rocks: 100 to 66 million years (Cenomanian / Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Tolar4
Countries: Chile4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Atacamatitan was discovered during expeditions in 2000 and 2001 by Chilean and Brazilian researchers. It was named and described by Alexander Kellner and colleagues in 2011.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure about the exact size of Atacamatitan because only partial bones have been found.3

Where the facts come from

Atacamatitan (en.wikipedia.org)
Brazil - A new titanosaur sauropod from the Atacama Desert, Chile A new titanosaur sauropod from the Atacama Desert, Chile (scielo.br)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Atacamatitan in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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