Фермийн эзэд санамсаргүй байдлаар олж илрүүлсэн аварга том яс нь Австралид олдсон хамгийн том титанозаврын үлдэгдэл болохыг эрдэмтэд тогтоожээ.
2006 онд Квийнслэнд мужийн фермерүүд болох Робин болон Стюарт Маккензи нар мал маллаж явахдаа хар өнгийн том чулуутай төстэй зүйлсийг олж харсан нь 실은 эртний үлэг гүрвэлийн яс байв. Энэхүү олдвор нь 2004 онд тэдний хүүгийн олсон ястай холбоотой байсан бөгөөд олон жилийн судалгааны үр дүнд Australotitan cooperensis буюу “өмнөдийн титан” хэмээн нэрлэгдэх шинэ төрөл зүйл болохыг тогтоожээ.
Энэхүү титанозавр нь 70 тонн жинтэй, 25-30 метр урт, хоёр давхар байшингийн өндөртэй, сагсан бөмбөгийн талбайн хэмжээтэй байсан гэж эрдэмтэд тооцоолж байна. Queensland Museum болон Eromanga Natural History Museum-ийн судлаачид ясны 3D сканнер болон геологийн шинжилгээний аргаар уг амьтныг Юрийн галавын сүүлчээс Цэрдийн галавын үед амьдарч байсан болохыг баталжээ.
Олдворын хэмжээ асар том, хадгалалтын байдал нь эмзэг байсан тул судалгааны ажил арван жил гаруй үргэлжилсэн байна. Paleontologist Скотт Хокнүлл болон түүний багийнхан уг ясыг дэлхийн бусад үлэг гүрвэлийн төрөл зүйлүүдтэй харьцуулан судалж, яс дээрх дарагдсан ул мөр нь тухайн үед бусад сауропод үлэг гүрвэлүүд гишгэсэн байж болзошгүй гэсэн таамаглал дэвшүүлжээ.
Энэхүү нээлт нь Австрали улсыг палеонтологийн судалгааны чухал бүс нутаг болгож буй цуврал олдворуудын нэг юм. Одоогоор уг олдворыг олсон гэр бүлийн санаачилгаар байгуулсан Eromanga Natural History Museum-д хадгалж байгаа бөгөөд цаашид Австралийн нутаг дэвсгэрээс илүү том махчин үлэг гүрвэлийн үлдэгдэл олдох магадлалтай гэж судлаачид үзэж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Two Queensland farmers who mistook giant bones for black rocks have helped identify the largest dinosaur ever found in Australia. The long-necked titanosaur, named Australotitan cooperensis, is also counted among the biggest in the world.
In 2006, Robyn and Stuart Mackenzie were riding motorbikes across their sheep and cattle farm when they spotted what looked like massive black rocks. Up close, the “rocks” turned out to be bones. Their son Sandy, then 14, had already found dinosaur bones on the property in 2004.
More than a decade later, researchers at the Queensland Museum and the Eromanga Natural History Museum classified the remains as a new species. The animal, nicknamed “Cooper,” is also a reminder of how much a single find can change what we know about a region.
Meet “the Southern Titan”
Australotitan cooperensis, “the southern titan,” belongs to the titanosaurs, long-necked plant-eating sauropods that lived from the late Jurassic Epoch to the end of the Cretaceous period. They were among the largest dinosaurs that ever existed.
Cooper’s bones were unearthed near Cooper Creek in the Eromanga Basin of southwest Queensland. Researchers found its shoulder blades, pelvic bones and limbs mostly intact. Its size is staggering: an estimated 70 tons, two stories tall, and 25 to 30 meters (82 to 98 feet) long, roughly the size of a basketball court.
Other titanosaurs had been found in Australia before, but Cooper is significantly larger. Its appearance resembles that of the familiar long-necked sauropods Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus.
Why It Took Over a Decade
Naming a dinosaur is slow work. According to the the study published in PeerJ, the bones’ remote location, fragile condition and sheer size slowed things down, and the heaviest pieces sometimes needed a forklift to move. Then came the science. Paleontologist and co-author Scott Hocknull told ABC News:
“It’s taken this long because it’s such a painstaking piece of work, you’ve got to take the bones out of the ground, you’ve got to prepare the fossils, and then you’ve got to study them and compare them against all other species of dinosaurs worldwide.”
To confirm Cooper was new, the team compared 3D scans of its bones with those of its closest relatives, which let them examine the fragile, extremely heavy bones without damaging them. The age came from geological dating of the sediments surrounding the fossils. Along the way, the team noticed crush marks on the bones, suggesting that it may have been trampled by other sauropods.
The Mackenzies‘ story doesn’t end with the discovery. Robyn Mackenzie is now a field paleontologist and co-authored the paper, and Stuart is also named as a co-author. With the Eromanga community, a small town of 60 people, the family established the Eromanga Natural History Museum, which opened in 2016. Cooper’s bones will stay there, and attendance has tripled in recent years.
Queensland Museum Network CEO Jim Thompson pointed out that Australia has turned into an epicenter for paleontology, with a string of dinosaur and megafauna discoveries in the last two decades. Farmers, he said, can be a big asset, simply by looking out for peculiar “rocks.”
“We’ve found a couple of small theropod dinosaurs in Australia … but it wouldn’t have bothered Australotitan, which suggests there is a very large predatory dinosaur out there somewhere. We just haven’t found it yet.”
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