Dino card No. 1872 of 2,027

Vahiny

Say it: vah-HEE-nee

Name means: “traveller”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Cretaceous

Vahiny was a long-necked plant-eater that lived in Madagascar near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. It is known from just a few skull bones, so scientists are still learning about it.1

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Maevarano Formation, northwestern Madagascar1 3

Food

Plants1

Length

13.7 m2

largest known specimen, estimate

Weight

5.4 tonnes2

largest known specimen, estimate

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 4 cars

as long as 3 cars parked in a rowas long as 76 bananas end to endabout as heavy as an elephantas heavy as 1100 watermelons

How big was Vahiny compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Vahiny is only known from a partial braincase, which is the part of the skull that holds the brain.1

Its name means 'traveller' in the Malagasy language of Madagascar.1

Vahiny lived alongside another titanosaur called Rapetosaurus, which was much more common.1

The braincase of Vahiny looks most like that of Jainosaurus, a titanosaur from India.1

Vahiny shared its home with the meat-eating dinosaurs Majungasaurus and Masiakasaurus.1

The area where Vahiny lived was a coastal floodplain with wet and dry seasons.1

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

?What does Vahiny mean?

It means 'traveller' in the Malagasy language of Madagascar.1

?What did Vahiny eat?

Vahiny was a herbivore, so it ate plants. It used its long neck to browse on vegetation like conifers, cycads, and early flowering plants.1

?When did Vahiny live?

Vahiny lived during the Late Cretaceous, near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs, about 70 to 66 million years ago.1

?Was Vahiny a dinosaur?

Yes, Vahiny was a titanosaur sauropod dinosaur, a long-necked plant-eater.1 3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Vahiny
Named by: Curry Rogers and Wilson 20143
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Lithostrotia3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria3
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Maevarano3
Countries: Madagascar3
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Vahiny was named in 2014 by Kristina Curry Rogers and Jeffrey A. Wilson based on a partial braincase found in the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big Vahiny was, because only a few skull bones have been found.1

Where the facts come from

Vahiny (en.wikipedia.org)
Vahiny depereti | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
Vahiny 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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