Size Matters: New size estimates & Specimens of the Large Prehistoric Animals

[Turkeysaurus]

I wanted to make a special thread for us who wants to know updated sized estimates of some of the largest specimens of our favorite prehistoic animals. It also might be helpful for scaling our toys.

Let's use metric system for not to cause confusion.



Let's start with big news:

There is a new specimen of Tyrannosaurus Rex called "Goliath" , it's just a femur but possibly biggest one yet.






For those who don't there are also "E.D. Cope" & "Bertha" which also might be bigger than Scotty & Sue.

Scotty & Sue are most reliable Specimens for largest T.rex but probably all these findings are still more reliable than the dentary specimen for largest Giganotosaurus.

[Turkeysaurus]

Perucetus on the other hand downsized greatly from first papers:

15-16 meters & 35-40 tons. (By Paul & Larramendi)

It was min 85 - Max 340 tons once and considered to similae or more than a blue whale.

[Turkeysaurus]

Randomdinos has some estimates for Deinosuchus and many others.


So 10.7 meters & 6400 kg for Max Deinosuchus. This is quite different than Fadeno estimates from earlier which  were gigantic. It's from deviantart users but randomdinos is pretty good one.

Hopefully new Haolonggood Deinosuchus won't be as large as Rebors.

[Turkeysaurus]

Sue , Scotty , E.D. Cope GDI estimates are usually around 10 , 10.5 , 11.7 tons.

Meanwhile Dan Folkes 2025 New Giga estimates:



It looks like T.rex & Giga are challengers for largest theropods. However paratype estimate for Giganotosaurus should be considered unreliable because based on part of a dentary bone.

I wonder if upcoming Haolonggood Giganotosaurus figure will use holotype or paratype for size.

[suspsy]

A palaeontologist friend of mine calculated the mass of Goliath based on the measurements provided and using the method in Mallon and Hone (2024) and came up with 11,496 kg, or 12.6 short tons.

[Turkeysaurus]

Measurements i have given before were based on GDI. So 11495 kg is huge , in 2024 paper scotty was taken as 8870 kg from a 2020 study if i remember correctly.

I wish there were more bones than just a femur but it could be much worse to be honest.

We have many size estimates for dinosaurs based on less reliable bones.

[suspsy]

And FYI, Goliath was found in South Dakota and despite a careful search, no further remains were found in addition to the femur. 

[Turkeysaurus]

There is a new Meraxes Gigas supposed to be 15% larger than holotype which might make it comparable to other largest carcharadontosaurids.

Hopefully upcoming papers about Giganotosaurus can provide better information for size estimates.

[danmalcolm]

A few titans coming to mind for me from recent times:

The Abingdon pliosaur, giant cervical verts, up to 14.4m long, likely slightly below that, but not by much, almost certainly over 12m which is huge.

Priconodon, a huge nodosaur know from teeth for over a century, and, very recently, by enormous caudal verts and some other remains. Yet to be described, but estimated to be 13.7m long, which would put it in the running for largest terrestrial animal (that isn't a sauropod)!

Giant ichthyosaurs, which are only recently beginning to be thought of as proper macropredators. The recently named Ichthyotitan is known from very scant remains but I'm very excited for the day we find more. The authors describing S. sikkaniensis also state in their paper that the specimen they excavated (21m long and actually reasonably complete) was not the largest individual in that deposit.

Anyone more in the know than me about these than I, any additional knowledge would be appreciated!

[Turkeysaurus]

"Full video incoming! The measurements are confirmed, and Goliath is an absolute MONSTER. Around Cope-sized minimum. Thank you to Pete Larson and ‪@FossilCrates‬ for helping to verify the facts for me!" from youtuber Vividen post.

Vividen's E.D. Cope estimate is : 11.5-11.7 tons. (metric)

With that said I doubt even possible maximum size for Goliath can make REBOR's T.rex 1 : 35 as advertised though.    Perhaps REBORS's Kiss can be an example for "the 70% larger speculative T.rex" from 2024 papers.

[Turkeysaurus]

Priconodon, a huge nodosaur know from teeth for over a century, and, very recently, by enormous caudal verts and some other remains. Yet to be described, but estimated to be 13.7m long, which would put it in the running for largest terrestrial animal (that isn't a sauropod)!

That size sounds too good to be true.

by @SlvrHwk_paleo from x.

This is priconodon tooth vs related Peloroplides tooth.

Tail vertebra


"Finally in 2023, over a century later, several fossils other than teeth from Priconodon were discovered from the same fossil site as its teeth in what is considered the first true dinosaur bone bed on the eastern part of the United States.  Several limb bones and osteoderms (armor pieces), including a large curved spike were uncovered.  Most impressive, however, was a GIGANTIC tail vertebra.  Combined with the largest teeth, when compared to the same parts of more completely known ankylosaurs, this vertebra implies that Priconodon may have grown to 45 feet long from beak to tail, making it the largest armored dinosaur ever discovered by a huge margin. (At the time of me writing this paper there is no formal paper describing any material from Priconodon other than teeth.  Bones from this dinosaur are still being found and prepped from the site in Maryland where it was found and a formal paper is still at least a few years away.  This is why there are no sources for the 45 foot estimate nor the bones below.  Please understand that estimate is a rough number and is of course subject to change.)" from https://prehistoricbeastoftheweek.blogspot.com/2025/01/priconodon-beast-of-week.html

[thomasw100]

This new large ankylosaur sounds very interesting. However, with a size estimate of up to 13.7 meters, it would not rank as the larges non-sauropod animal. Edmontosaurus is estimated up to 14 meters, and Shantungosaurus is estimated at up to 15 meters.

[Stegotyranno420]

Frick why an ankylosaur, us stego-fans need to find a newer bigger stegosaurian lmao

[Turkeysaurus]

T @thomasw100 I think because of its possible mass it can be considered as the largest. Nodosaurid at those sizes would be heavier than a hadrosaurs i believe.

It seems too big to believable range to me. Aren't most largest nodosaurids are 6-7 metres range? It would be super cool though.

[Turkeysaurus]

This new large ankylosaur sounds very interesting. However, with a size estimate of up to 13.7 meters, it would not rank as the larges non-sauropod animal. Edmontosaurus is estimated up to 14 meters, and Shantungosaurus is estimated at up to 15 meters.

PNSO Edmontosaurus Annectens is 33.5 cm along the curve which makes 11.7 meters animal in real life. It's already looks glorious at that size. How awesome it would be to have a hadrosaur at similar body plan at 15 meters.

[thomasw100]

This new large ankylosaur sounds very interesting. However, with a size estimate of up to 13.7 meters, it would not rank as the larges non-sauropod animal. Edmontosaurus is estimated up to 14 meters, and Shantungosaurus is estimated at up to 15 meters.

PNSO Edmontosaurus Annectens is 33.5 cm along the curve which makes 11.7 meters animal in real life. It's already looks glorious at that size. How awesome it would be to have a hadrosaur at similar body plan at 15 meters.

Maybe Haolonggood will give us such a monster hadrosaur this year.

[Jorgesaurus]

Frick why an ankylosaur, us stego-fans need to find a newer bigger stegosaurian lmao

yes  i love stegosaurus (apex)

[danmalcolm]

T @thomasw100 I think because of its possible mass it can be considered as the largest. Nodosaurid at those sizes would be heavier than a hadrosaurs i believe.

It seems too big to believable range to me. Aren't most largest nodosaurids are 6-7 metres range? It would be super cool though.

Yeah it's like double the next largest known nodosaur. But if the length is accurate scaling up indicates a mass comparable or even beyond that of Shantungosaurus, which is absolutely bonkers.

[Turkeysaurus]

https://x.com/Fossilcrates/status/1888655157015224800

[Turkeysaurus]