Giant new dinosaur identified from fossils in Thailand

A new type of giant long-necked dinosaur, twice the size of a tyrannosaurus rex, has been identified up by scientists from remains dug up in Thailand.The nagatitan, the largest-ever dinosaur found in South-East Asia, weighed 27 tonnes - as much as nine adult Asian elephants - and measured 27m (88ft) in length, longer than a diplodocus. Like that dinosaur, it belonged to the sauropod family of long-necked herbivores.A team of researchers from the UK and Thailand identified the species from fossils found beside a pond in north-eastern Thailand a decade ago. They say the discovery sheds light on how changes in ancient climatic conditions allowed gigantic dinosaurs to develop.The dinosaur's full name is Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, with "naga" referring to a serpent in South-East Asian folklore, "titan" referring to the gods in Greek mythology, and chaiyaphumensis meaning "from Chaiyaphum", the province where the fossils were discovered.It lived between 100 and 120 million years ago - around 40 million years earlier than the tyrannosaurus rex - and is about twice the size of that creature.Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a Thai doctoral student at University College London (UCL), was the lead author of the study which was published in the Scientific Reports journal.He said the researchers referred to the nagatitan as "the last titan" of Thailand, because the fossils were found in the country's youngest dinosaur-bearing rock formation.