A New Kind of Dinosaurs: Dreadnoughtus
This new dinosaur species was recently discovered and are one of the largest land animals ever to walk the earth. Because of its huge size, it was named after dreadnought battleships, which were named from the words ‘dread’ (fear) and ‘nought’ (nothing).
These dinosaurs were herbivores. Scientists are not exactly sure what they ate, but they probably grazed on cretaceous plants, which were a type of flower.
They lived 77 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period. At that time, the area it lived in would have been mixed forests with lots of rivers. These rivers would often flood and turn the plains into sinking sand. The Dreadnoughtus fossil that is found is thought to have drowned in quicksand.
Because they were so huge, they were probably safe from predators. They could use their tails as clubs for defence as well as their massive size.