File:Sarmientosaurus musacchioi (sauropod dinosaur) (Bajo Barreal Formation, Upper Cretaceous; Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina) 1 (35749027702).jpg

Sarmientosaurus musacchioi Martinez et al., 2016 - sauropod dinosaur skull (replica) from the Cretaceous of Argentina. (oblique right anterolateral view) (public display, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; reproduction of MDT-PV2, vertebrate paleontology collection, Desiderio Torres Regional Museum, Sarmiento, Argentina)

Sauropod dinosaurs were the largest terrestrial animals ever. They all have the same basic body plan: large body with four walking legs, very long neck & tail, and a small head relative to body size. Sauropods were herbivores, and are often perceived as holding their heads & necks up high to reach vegetation normally out of reach to other organisms. Modern reconstructions of many sauropod species depict them with heads and necks held close to the horizontal, or at low angles above the horizontal.

From museum signage: Titanosaurs are a type of sauropod, the giant, long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs. Titanosuarus include the most massive land animals that ever lived; some were heavier than humpback whales. They lived on every continent and were common in the Southern Hemisphere. Though more than 60 titanosaur species have been named, well-preserved skulls are known for only four.

Sarmientosaurus was named in 2016 by a team of paleontologists including the Carnegie Museum's Matt Lamanna. It is known from a complete fossil skull and part of the neck skeleton. Many consider the skull to be the best-preserved of any titanosaur yet found.

Sarmientosaurus provides new insights into titanosaur biology. Computerized axial tomography scans ("CAT scans") of the skull have enabled scientists to produce models of the brain and inner ear. This shows that - despite having a tiny brain like other sauropods - Sarmientosaurus probably had good vision and hearing. Study of the inner ear suggests that this titanosaur normally held its head with the snout facing downward, indicating that it may have fed mostly on low-growing plants.

Size: roughly 40 feet in length and 10 tons in weight (~12 meters long, weighs ~9,000 kilograms)

Time: mid-Cretaceous Period, about 95 million years ago

From: Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina

Name: Sarmientosaurus means "lizard from Sarmiento" (a town near the discovery site in Argentina)

Stratigraphy: greenish-colored, fluvial, tuffaceous sandstone in the upper part of the lower member, Bajo Barreal Formation, Cenomanian Stage or Turonian Stage, lower Upper Cretaceous