A new giant dinosaur, twice the size of a Tyrannosaurus rex, has been identified from fossils found in Thailand.
The Nagatitan, the largest dinosaur ever found in Southeast Asia, weighed 27 tons and measured 88 feet in length. It belonged to the sauropod family of long-necked herbivores.
A team of researchers from the UK and Thailand identified the species from fossils discovered near a pond in northeastern Thailand a decade ago. The dinosaur's full name is Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, referencing a serpent in Southeast Asian folklore and the province where the fossils were found.
It lived between 100 and 120 million years ago, about 40 million years before the T. rex. Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a Thai doctoral student at University College London, was the lead author of the study published in Scientific Reports.
The discovery sheds light on how ancient climatic conditions allowed gigantic dinosaurs to develop. The Nagatitan roamed the Earth when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were high and global temperatures were elevated.