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New Analysis Shows Dinosaurs Not As Heavy As Previously Believed.

Cognitive Dissident writes "Discovery.com has an article on a new study using computer modeling to estimate the actual amount of flesh needed to cover the skeletons of dinosaurs. Based on a comparison with modern animals, it indicates that these animals could have weighed dramatically less than has been previously estimated. 'A huge Brachiosaur, once thought to weigh 176,370 pounds, is now believed to have weighed 50,706 pounds.' That's only about two-and-a-half times the weight of a modern African elephant. If other evidence can be reconciled with this, many estimates of the ecosystems dinosaurs lived in will also have to be revised."

5 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Dino Booty by pd0x · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dinosaurs. Not heavy, just big boned.

  2. Elephant metric system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    pounds? for a minute there I thought we were talking sience...

    Let's make the African elephant unit a standard.

    1. Re:Elephant metric system by drkim · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sorry Kapiti, that should have read:
      "A huge Brachiosaur, once thought to weigh 12597.9 stone, is now believed to have weighed 3621.9 stone."

  3. Re:I blame yo-yo dieting myself by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Finally scientific evidence comes out saying it is all because of their genetics. We should be ashamed of all the years we've been calling dinosaurs old and fat.

  4. Re:Precision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "This happens all the time in the popular press. Clearly you can't estimate the weight of a creature you've never seen to within 1 lb"

    I went to the museum and saw a big Tyrannosaurus skeleton and I asked the guide how old it was.
    He said: "75,000,013 years."
    I said: "Wow! Since when do they know the age up to the year?"
    He said: "Well, it was 75,000,000 years old when I got this job and that was 13 years ago."