12m long monster appears in the middle of 'vampire land'

A previously unknown beast has been unearthed in the famous Transylvania region of Romania.

Transylvania is famous for more than just vampire legends. Tens of millions of years ago, Transylvania's Hațeg Basin was once an island in the Tethys superocean, where giant beasts reigned.

A research team led by Dr. Verónica Díez Díaz from the Natural History Museum of the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research (Germany) found here the fossil of a new species of titanosaur (Titanosaurus).

The Beast of Transylvania was one of the largest titanosaurs to ever exist in ancient Europe - Photo: ABelov

According to Sci-News, the newly excavated beast in the "vampire territory" is named Uriash kadici, a new species of the Lithostrotia family, a group of titanosaurs.

Titanosaurs are the largest lineage of the Sauropoda dinosaur family, their bodies can be tens of meters long, weigh tens of tons and are the largest land creatures of all time.

They are gentle herbivores with very long necks, long, thick tails, four pillar-like legs, and heavy bodies.

However, the Transylvanian monster was relatively small compared to other titanosaurs: 12 meters long and weighing around 5-8 tons when alive. Even so, it was still much larger than the average elephant.

Uriash kadici is second in size to other titanosaurs ever found in Europe, surpassed only by Abditosaurus (estimated to weigh 14 tonnes and be 17.5 m long).

The largest titanosaurs - weighing 60-70 tons - are usually found in the Americas, most commonly in Argentina.

But what's special about the Transylvanian beast is that it breaks the so-called "island rule" in the world of creatures. Hațeg is a humble island, so the creatures that live there should be smaller than their mainland counterparts.

According to the article published in the scientific journal Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, the new monster also has deep roots in the southern supercontinent Gondwana, which later disintegrated into Oceania, Antarctica, South America and the Indian subcontinent today.

It is estimated to have lived about 70 million years ago, near the end of the Cretaceous period, which was also the golden age of dinosaurs.

Source: https://giadinh.suckhoedoisong.vn/sieu-quai-thu-dai-12-m-xuat-hien-giua-vung-dat-ma-ca-rong-172250227073821398.htm