2026年5月15日 / 美国东部时间下午12:57 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/法新社
科学家从泰国出土的骸骨中确认了一种新型巨型恐龙，据估算这种恐龙的体重可达9头成年大象的重量。
据发表在《科学报告》期刊上的一项研究显示，这种长脖子植食性恐龙身长可达88英尺，体重约27吨。
研究人员表示，它们大约在1亿至1.2亿年前活跃在如今的泰国境内，是东南亚地区迄今发现的体型最大的恐龙。
研究团队估算，这种新型恐龙的体重相当于9头成年亚洲大象。
“以大多数人的标准来看，我们发现的这只恐龙体型庞大——它的体重很可能比伦敦自然历史博物馆此前展出的巨型梁龙复制品“迪皮”至少重10吨，”首席研究员蒂蒂武特·塞塔帕尼查库尔说道。
这位来自伦敦大学学院的泰国博士生将此次发现的蜥脚类恐龙称为“最后的泰坦”，因为它出土于泰国境内恐龙化石发现地中年代最晚的岩层之一。
他补充道，该区域后来变成了浅海，“因此这可能是我们在东南亚地区发现的最后一只，或是年代最近的大型蜥脚类恐龙。”
据周四发表的这项研究显示，这种巨型恐龙的首批骸骨于10年前由泰国东北部的当地村民发现，但发掘工作直到2024年才完成。
这些骸骨与此前发现的蜥脚类恐龙有部分相似之处，但拥有足够多的独特特征，足以被认定为一个新物种。
研究作者们写道，该物种已被命名为那伽泰坦猜也奔亚种（Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis），名称源自“多种亚洲文化中尤其是泰国东北部流传的神话蛇形生物，常与水和佛教相关联”，以及希腊神话中的巨人“泰坦”。
在那伽泰坦活跃的时期，该生态系统中的顶级捕食者是食肉恐龙鲨齿龙的近亲，其身长约26英尺，体重约3.5吨。
“就体型而言，这种捕食者在那伽泰坦面前相形见绌。成年那伽泰坦几乎不用担心会遭到捕食，”塞塔帕尼查库尔在接受路透社采访时说道。
据伦敦大学学院介绍，一具等比例复原模型目前正在曼谷的泰国恐龙博物馆展出。
2023年，科学家在泰国东北部出土的一具恐龙骨架也被认定为新物种。这种名为迷你奔龙普诺伊ensis（Minimocursor phunoiensis）的恐龙生活在1.5亿年前的如今的呵叻高原地区，当时的科学家表示，它的骨架是“东南亚地区迄今发现的保存最完好的恐龙化石之一”。
Skeletal remains of new dinosaur weighing as much as 9 elephants discovered by scientists: “The last titan”
May 15, 2026 / 12:57 PM EDT / CBS/AFP
Scientists have identified a massive new dinosaur from remains discovered in Thailand, with the creature estimated to have weighed as much as nine adult elephants.
The long-necked herbivore stretched 88 feet and weighed about 27 tons, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
It probably roamed what is now Thailand between 100 million and 120 million years ago and is the largest ever found in Southeast Asia, researchers said.
They estimated the new dinosaur had the same heft as nine adult Asian elephants.
“Our dinosaur is big by most people’s standards — it likely weighed at least 10 tons more than Dippy the Diplodocus,” said lead researcher Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, referring to the enormous composite cast previously on display at London’s Natural History Museum.
An artist’s reconstruction shows the dinosaur whose fossils were unearthed in Thailand. Patchanop Boonsai/Handout via Reuters
The Thai Ph.D. student called the newly discovered sauropod “the last titan” because it was unearthed in one the youngest rock formations where dinosaurs are found in Thailand, according to University College London.
The region later became a shallow sea, he added, “so this may be the last or most recent large sauropod we will find in Southeast Asia.”
The first remains of the enormous creature were unearthed a decade ago by locals in northeast Thailand, but the excavation was not completed until 2024, according to the study, published Thursday.
The remains partially resembled those of previously discovered sauropods, but had enough unique features to be considered a new species.
It has been dubbed Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis after a “mythological serpent-like creature found in various Asian cultures, especially in northeastern Thailand, often associated with water and Buddhism, and titan, a giant in Greek mythology,” the authors write.
At the time the Nagatitan roamed the region, the ecosystem’s largest predator was a relative of the meat-eating dinosaur Carcharodontosaurus, which measured about 26 feet long and weighed about 3.5 tons.
“At that size, it was dwarfed by Nagatitan. At full size, Nagatitan likely had very little to fear in terms of predation,” Sethapanichsakul told the Reuters news agency.
Researcher Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul poses with a front leg bone of the Nagatitan at the Sirindhorn Museum in Thailand in a photograph released May 14, 2026. Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul/Handout via Reuters
A life-size reconstruction is on display at Bangkok’s Thainosaur Museum, according to University College London.
In 2023, a dinosaur skeleton uncovered by scientists in northeastern Thailand was also deemed to be a newly discovered species. The skeleton of Minimocursor phunoiensis — which lived 150 million years ago on what is now the Khorat Plateau — represented “one of the best-preserved dinosaurs ever found in Southeast Asia,” scientists said at the time.
发表回复