Rapetosaurus krauseiWIKIMEDIA, NOBU TAMURA
Babies of the largest dinosaur species ever to have walked the Earth, a Cretaceous sauropod called Rapetosaurus krausei, were born with adult-like limb proportions, according to a study published today (April 22) in Science. The findings suggest that these precocious dinosaurs were independent from their parents at a younger age than their late-blooming relatives.
“We took a series of detailed measurements of the baby and compared the proportions of things like mid-shaft circumference and bone length to a number of other, older Rapetosaurus skeletons in our collection,” study coauthor Kristina Curry Rogers of Macalester College, Minnesota, told ABC. “Despite massive changes in body size, the proportions stayed the same.”
The researchers analyzed a newly discovered fossil of an infant R. krausei that likely died of ...
