Pennsylvania Scientist Helps Unearth Dinosaur | NBC 10 Philadelphia

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Pennsylvania Scientist Helps Unearth Dinosaur



    A replica of a 122-foot-long dinosaur is displayed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. The dinosaur is a new species and one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered. It has not yet been formally named by paleontologists who discovered it in Argentina in 2014. It belongs to a group known as titanosaurs.

    A western Pennsylvania scientist was part of a team that unearthed a new dinosaur in Argentina, according to museum officials.

    The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh announced Tuesday that the dinosaur was discovered by Bernardo Riga and his team, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

    According to a museum press release, the dinosaur provides insights on the hind foot of titanosaurs, a type of large herbivore that had long necks and tails.

    The new dinosaur is the first sauropod with an entirely known hind-foot skeleton.

    Riga said the hind feet of sauropods were previously unknown and are vital to understanding how they stood and moved.

    He said researchers can now learn how titanosaurs were able to carry more weight around than any other animal in history.