For Immediate Release
For more information, contact:
Leigh Kish
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
412.622.3361
kishl@carnegiemuseums.org

October 23, 2009

Gigantic South American Dinosaur Bones on View to the Public during
Preparation and Study in Pittsburgh

Photo Opportunity: Friday, October 23, 2009, 3 p.m.,
Portal Entry off of parking lot Bones arriving, Paleontologists on-site

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania…Arriving in Pittsburgh on October 23 are fossilized bones of a Cretaceous-aged (146–66 million years ago) sauropod—a long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur—of extraordinary proportions, weighing in at upwards of 50 tons. The nearly complete skeleton of this roughly 70 million-year-old, 50-ton behemoth, called a “titanosaur,” was discovered in Patagonia, Argentina—the southernmost area of South America—by a team led by Dr. Kenneth Lacovara of Drexel University and co-led by Dr. Matthew Lamanna, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Other members of the team include Jason Poole of Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences, colleagues from the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco in Argentina, and several of Lacovara’s students.

Following this fossil find in 2005, it took over three years to negotiate the loan of the fossil specimens—16 tons’ worth, contained within 232 protective plaster and burlap “jackets”—to the United States for preparation and study. After formal study in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the fossils will be permanently returned to Argentina.

Approximately 30 jackets—some requiring a forklift, and others five people to move—will be delivered to Pittsburgh. Over a period of months, Carnegie Museum of Natural History fossil preparators Norman Wuerthele, Allen Shaw, and Daniel Pickering will open these jackets one by one, gradually freeing the fossilized bones within from their encasing rock, or “matrix.” Some of this process will occur in the Museum’s glass-enclosed PaleoLab, where visitors will be able to watch the work being performed. In addition to the work done at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, other fossils will be cleaned at Drexel University and the Academy of Natural Sciences. Once the fossils have been fully prepared and conserved, Carnegie’s Lamanna will collaborate with Lacovara and other members of the team on the scientific study of the gargantuan creature.

"Visitors may be familiar with Apatosaurus louisae, a 77-foot, 25-ton Jurassic-aged sauropod on view in Dinosaurs in Their Time at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. For comparison’s sake, in life, this new titanosaur specimen weighed about double what Apatosaurus would have weighed,” said Lamanna. “In other words, approximately 10 times the size of an average African elephant."

Carnegie Museum of Natural History, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, is ranked as one of the top five natural history museums in the country. It maintains, preserves, and interprets an extraordinary collection of 20 million objects and scientific specimens used to broaden understanding of evolution, conservation, and biodiversity. More information is available by calling 412.622.3131 or by visiting the Web site, www.carnegiemnh.org.

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