Bones Reveal The Brontosaurus Had An Older, Massive Cousin In South Africa

"Millions of years before the brontosaurus roamed the Earth, a massive relative was lumbering around South Africa."

"Scientists think this early Jurassic dinosaur was, at the time, the largest land creature ever to have lived. And unlike the even bigger creatures that came later, they think it could pop up on its hind legs."

"They've dubbed the newly discovered dinosaur Ledumahadi mafube, which translates in the Sesotho language to 'a giant thunderclap at dawn.' And the discovery sheds light on how giants like the brontosaurus got so huge."

"The discovery didn't happen quickly — it took years to get this dinosaur out of the ground. 'It's quite a long, sort of drawn-out story. It starts, I think, around 1990,' says Universidade de São Paulo paleontologist Blair McPhee, one of the researchers who discovered the dinosaur."