Dino card No. 1100 of 2,027

Lusotitan

Say it: LOO-so-tie-tan

Name means: “Lusitanian titan”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Jurassic

Lusotitan was a huge, long-necked dinosaur that lived in what is now Portugal. It was a gentle giant that munched on leaves from the tops of trees, using its long front legs to reach high up.1

Lived

152 to 145 million years ago4

Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Atalaia, near Peralta, Portugal4 1

Food

Plants1 4

Length

up to 21 m1

estimate, full skeleton never found

Weight

up to 30 tonnes1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 5 elephants

as long as 5 cars parked in a rowas long as 120 bananas end to endas heavy as 6000 watermelons

How big was Lusotitan compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Lusotitan was once thought to be a species of Brachiosaurus, but in 2003 scientists gave it its own name.1

It belongs to a group called brachiosaurids, which had very long front legs and a body that slanted upward, like a giraffe.1

Lusotitan lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 150 to 143 million years ago.1

Only a few bones of Lusotitan have been found, including vertebrae and parts of the legs and hips.2

Scientists can tell Lusotitan apart from other dinosaurs by special features in its tail bones, like long projections that stick out far behind the bone.2

Like all sauropods, Lusotitan had air sacs inside its body that helped it breathe and kept it from being too heavy.1

AI-made picture of Lusotitan — An AI-made picture of how Lusotitan 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 Lusotitan

?How big was Lusotitan?

Lusotitan was about 21 metres (69 feet) long and weighed around 25 to 30 tonnes (28 to 33 short tons). That is only an estimate because the full skeleton has never been found.3 1

?What did Lusotitan eat?

Lusotitan was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It used its long front legs and tall body to reach leaves high up in trees.1

?When did Lusotitan live?

Lusotitan lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 150 to 143 million years ago.1

?Where was Lusotitan found?

Lusotitan was found in Portugal, in the Lourinhã Formation. It is the largest dinosaur discovered in that area.3

?Was Lusotitan bigger than Brachiosaurus?

Nobody knows for sure. Lusotitan might not have been quite as large as Brachiosaurus, which was about 25 metres long, but its remains are too scarce to compare exactly.1

?Did Lusotitan have air sacs?

Yes, like all sauropods, Lusotitan had internal air sacs that helped it breathe and kept it from being too heavy. It is unknown if it had external air sacs on its head, as its skull has never been found.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Lusotitan was exactly the same size as Brachiosaurus.

Truth: Lusotitan might have been slightly smaller than Brachiosaurus, but because its skeleton is incomplete, scientists cannot be sure.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Lusotitan
Named by: Antunes and Mateus 20034
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Brachiosauridae4
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Macronaria4
Age of the rocks: 152 to 145 million years (Kimmeridgian / Tithonian)4
Rock formations: Lourinhã4
Countries: Portugal4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Lusotitan was named in 2003 by paleontologists Miguel Telles Antunes and Octávio Mateus. The fossils were found in the Lourinhã Formation in Portugal.4 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how tall Lusotitan was, because much of its neck is missing from the fossil record.1

Where the facts come from

Lusotitan | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms | Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | Oxford Academic (academic.oup.com)
Lusotitan (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia)
Lusotitan 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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