🎨 RestorationRestoration: LadyofHats Altered by Steveoc 86 and FunkMonk · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Life restorations are artistic reconstructions based on fossil evidence; true coloration and soft-tissue details remain uncertain.
Saltasaurus
Saltasaurus loricatus (Saltasaurus · Saltasaurus)
Known only from fossils. The IUCN Red List assesses only species extant since 1500 CE, so fossil taxa are not assigned a category.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its estimated body length of about 12 m (representative value for the genus) is equal to the length of a city bus (Comparison).
- 💡 Its skin embedded with bony nodules is introduced as evidence of a giant herbivorous dinosaur wearing armor.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
Saltasaurus loricatus (genus Saltasaurus) was a herbivorous titanosaurian sauropod that lived in Argentina during the Late Cretaceous; its name means 'Salta lizard,' after Salta Province in Argentina. It belonged to one of the last groups of sauropods.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Small bony nodules were embedded in its skin, making it the fossil that showed titanosaurian sauropods had armor. Its body length is listed as about 12 m.
🔍 3. Fossil Record & Paleoecology
It was a herbivorous dinosaur that lived just before sauropods disappeared.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • Fossil taxon — the IUCN Red List assesses only species living or extinct since 1500
- • paleobiodb.org — basicTaxonInfo
- • wikidata.org — Q20719246
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Saltasaurus dinosaur.png
- • nhm.ac.uk — saltasaurus.html
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Ryan Santos Soledade · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Neuquensaurus australis)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.