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| Sauropods may have had noisy noses. |
Meaning: titan of the Daxia [branch of the Yellow River] from Bingling Temple [famous site near where it was found]
Time: Early Cretaceous, c 122.6 million years ago
Place: northwestern China
Size: about 23 metres (75.5 feet) long and 20-25 tonnes (22-27.6 tons)
Type of Dinosaur: euhelopodid macronarian (very long-necked big nosed plant-eating dinosaur)
Despite initial claims of extreme size, Daxiatitan does not appear to be one of the largest dinosaurs of all time, attaining a size that, while certainly respectable, is not all that giant among the sauropods. It belonged to a derived group of sauropod dinosaurs with extremely long necks and long forelimbs that is so far only known from Asia.
In this picture, I imagined a male Daxiatitan, at back, courting a female by making a bellowing call and inflating colourful flaps of skin around his nose and along his neck. Both sexes have similar patterns though.
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