Dinosaur had longest neck ever seen in an animal, scientists say | UK News

Scientists have discovered the longest neck ever seen in an animal, belonging to Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum, a dinosaur that roamed eastern Asia 160 million years ago. The neck measured 15.1 metres and belonged to the sauropod group of plant-eating dinosaurs, famed for their large size, long neck and tail, and four-legged stance. Sauropods also include the dinosaur known as Dippy in London’s Natural History Museum. The bones of the M. sinocanadorum’s neck and skull were discovered in China in 1987, giving the team the opportunity to use computed-tomography scanning, which revealed that the vertabrae were hollow and lightweight with air spaces producing nearly three-quarters of the volume. To compensate for its lightness, M. sinocanadorum had four-metre-long, rod-like ribs in its neck to aid with stability.
 
The research, published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, enables a greater understanding of the development of long-necked animals. Dr Andrew J Moore from New York’s Stony Brook University, co-author of the research, said: “All sauropods were big, but jaw-droppingly long necks didn’t evolve just once. Mamenchisaurids are important because they pushed the limits on how long a neck can be and were the first lineage of sauropods to do so.” The lightweight air-filled vertabrae are unusual in animals of this size and are more commonly found in small birds, according to the research team. This discovery highlights the previously unknown adaptive features of saurapods, and demonstrates the use of computed-tomography scanning in scientific research.
 
Despite its impressive size, the M. sinocanadorum’s long neck still fell short of the Patagotitan mayorum, discovered in Argentina in 2014, which was 37.5 metres long and weighed about 57 tonnes. The M. sinocanadorum is known only from a handful of bones, however, the discovery contributes to greater knowledge of the anatomical evolution of such dinosaurs.



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