Dino card No. 1372 of 2,027

Paralititan

Say it: pa-RAL-i-TY-tan

Name means: “tidal giant”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Cretaceous

Paralititan was a giant, long-necked plant-eater that stomped through ancient mangrove swamps in what is now Egypt. It was one of the biggest dinosaurs of its time, with a huge body and a small head on a long neck. It lived about 100 to 94 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1 3

Lived

100 to 94 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Fossils were found in the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt, in the Bahariya Formation. The PBDB also lists a record from Algeria.1 3

Food

Plants3 1

Length

26 m1

estimate based on a 2006 study

Weight

30 tonnes to 55 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 9 elephants

as long as 6 cars parked in a rowas long as 140 bananas end to endas heavy as 11000 watermelons

How big was Paralititan compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Paralititan's upper arm bone, called a humerus, was 1.69 meters (5.5 feet) long. That's longer than a tall adult person is tall!1

It was the first dinosaur shown to have lived in a mangrove habitat, which is a swampy forest by the sea.1

Only about 5.1% of Paralititan's skeleton has been found, so scientists are still guessing how big it really was.1

A tooth from a meat-eating dinosaur called Carcharodontosaurus was found near Paralititan's bones, suggesting that a predator scavenged on its dead body.1

Paralititan lived alongside other famous dinosaurs like Spinosaurus, the sail-backed predator, and the long-necked Aegyptosaurus.1

Its tail bones were wider than they were tall, and they didn't have the air-filled holes that some other sauropods had.1

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

?How big was Paralititan?

Scientists estimate it was about 26 metres (85 feet) long and weighed 30 to 55 tonnes (33 to 61 short tons). That makes it a large sauropod, but not as huge as Argentinosaurus or Puertasaurus.1

?What did Paralititan eat?

Paralititan was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It used its long neck to reach leaves and other vegetation in its mangrove swamp home.1 2

?When did Paralititan live?

Paralititan lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 101 to 94 million years ago. That was during the Cenomanian stage.1 2

?Where was Paralititan found?

Its fossils were found in the Bahariya Oasis in western Egypt, in rock layers of the Bahariya Formation. The area was once a mangrove swamp by the Tethys Sea.1 2

?Was Paralititan bigger than T. rex?

Yes, Paralititan was much bigger than T. rex. It was about 26 metres (85 feet) long, while T. rex was about 12 metres (40 feet) long.1

?Did Paralititan have any predators?

A tooth from a meat-eating dinosaur called Carcharodontosaurus was found near its bones, suggesting that a predator scavenged on its dead body. It also lived alongside Spinosaurus and other theropods.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Paralititan was the biggest dinosaur ever.

Truth: It was huge, but not the biggest. Scientists estimate it was about 26 meters (85 feet) long and weighed up to 55 tonnes, but others like Argentinosaurus were even bigger.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Paralititan
Named by: Smith et al. 20013
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Lithostrotia3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria3
Age of the rocks: 100 to 94 million years (Cenomanian)3
Rock formations: Baharîje3
Countries: Egypt, Algeria3
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Paralititan was named in 2001 by a team led by paleontologist Joshua B. Smith. They found its partial skeleton in the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt, and named it after Ernst Stromer, a German paleontologist who had explored the area earlier.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate how big Paralititan really was, because only a small part of its skeleton has been found. Some estimates say it was 26 meters long, but others think it could have been even larger.1

Where the facts come from

Paralititan (en.wikipedia.org)
Paralititan | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Paralititan 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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