What was the largest dinosaur?
Dinosaur size
Sauropodomorph size is difficult to estimate given their usually fragmentary state of preservation. Sauropods are often preserved without their tails, so the margin of error in overall length estimates is high. Mass is calculated using the cube of the length, so for species in which the length is particularly uncertain, the weight is even more so. Estimates that are particularly uncertain (due to very fragmentary or lost material) are preceded by a question mark. Each number represents the highest estimate of a given research paper. One large sauropod, Maraapunisaurus fragillimus, was based on particularly scant remains that have been lost since their description by paleontologists in 1878. Analysis of the illustrations included in the original report suggested that M. fragillimus may have been the largest land animal of all time, weighing up to 100–150t (110–170 short tons) and measuring between 40–60m (130–200ft) long.[18][30] One later analysis of the surviving evidence, and the biological plausibility of such a large land animal, suggested that the enormous size of this animal was an over-estimate due partly to typographical errors in the original report.[31] This would later be challenged by a different study, which argued Cope's measurements were genuine and there's no basis for assuming typographical errors. The study, however, also reclassified the species and correspondingly gave a much lower length estimate of 30.3 metres (99ft).[32]