New giant dinosaur identified from fossils in Thailand

2026-05-14 19:54:00, Kuriozitete CNA

A new species of giant, long-necked dinosaur, twice the size of a Tyrannosaurus rex, has been identified by scientists from remains excavated in Thailand.

Nagatitan, the largest dinosaur ever found in Southeast Asia, weighed 27 tons—as much as nine full-grown Asian elephants—and was 27 meters long, taller than a diplodocus. Like that dinosaur, it belonged to the sauropod family of long-necked herbivores.

A team of researchers from the United Kingdom and Thailand identified the species from fossils found near a pond in northeastern Thailand a decade ago.

They say the discovery sheds light on how changes in ancient climatic conditions allowed the development of giant dinosaurs.

The dinosaur's full name is Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, where "naga" refers to a serpent in Southeast Asian folklore, "titan" refers to gods in Greek mythology, and chaiyaphumensis means "from Chaiyaphum," the province where the fossils were discovered.

It lived between 100 and 120 million years ago - about 40 million years earlier than Tyrannosaurus rex - and is about twice the size of that creature.

Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a Thai doctoral student at University College London (UCL), was the lead author of the study which was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

He said researchers referred to Nagatitan as Thailand's "last titan" because the fossils were found in the youngest dinosaur-bearing rock formation in the country.

"Younger rocks laid down towards the end of the dinosaur era are unlikely to contain dinosaur remains because the region had become a shallow sea by then. So this could be the last or most recent large sauropod we will find in Southeast Asia," he said.

Sethapanichsakul, a self-proclaimed "dinosaur kid," said in a UCL press release that the study also "fulfills a childhood promise of naming a dinosaur."

Nagatitan is the 14th dinosaur to be named in Thailand. Paleontologist Dr. Sita Manitkoon, from Mahasarakham University, said the country has a high diversity of dinosaur fossils and is "probably the third most abundant in Asia in terms of dinosaur remains."

Nagatitan roamed Earth when carbon dioxide levels in the planet's atmosphere were rising in line with rising global temperatures.

Study co-author Prof. Paul Upchurch of UCL said the sauropod dinosaur family had become quite large by this time, telling National Geographic: "It seems a bit strange that sauropods were able to cope with higher temperature conditions," as large bodies retain heat and are harder to cool.

He told Reuters news agency that it was "possible that high temperatures had an impact on plant nutrition that was important for sauropods, which were very large herbivores."/ CNA, translated by BBC