Earth's biggest EVER dinosaur touches down in Britain ahead of its Natural ... trends now
The biggest dinosaur to ever stomp the Earth has just arrived in the UK, after being transported in not one, but two British Airways planes.
A replica of a Patagotitan mayorum – or titanosaur – skeleton has been relocated from Argentina to London to be showcased at the Natural History Museum.
The 115-foot long exhibit was dismantled into more than 40 crates in Trelow back in November, before being packed into the bellyhold of two Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft.
Based on the most complete giant dinosaur remains ever discovered, it will only just fit inside the enormous 30 foot-high (9 m) Waterhouse Gallery at the London tourist attraction.
With a weight of 65 tons, the skeleton cast is four times heavier than the museum's famous Dippy the diplodocus.
The skeleton is 115 feet (35 m) in length, the equivalent of four double decker buses or a British Airways' Airbus A320. This also makes it 40 feet (12 m) longer than the blue whale, Hope, currently displayed in the atrium at the Natural History Museum
The exhibit was dismantled into more than 40 crates in Trelow back in November, before being packed into the bellyhold of two Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft. Pictured: Dinosaur unloaded from aircraft at London Heathrow
It is also 115 feet (35 m) in length, the equivalent of four double decker buses or a British Airways' Airbus A320.
This makes it 40 feet (12 m) longer than the blue whale, Hope, currently displayed in the atrium at the Natural History Museum.
It was also three times the size of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The cast was transported from Buenos Aires to London Heathrow for the 'Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur' exhibition, due to open on March 31.
This will be the first time it will be displayed in Europe, after being loaned by the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF) in Argentina.
Titanosaurs were the last great family of sauropod dinosaurs before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, about 65 million years ago.
Sauropods were a dinosaur subgroup characterised by their four legs, long neck and tail, small head and herbivorous diet.
However, the titanosaurs' bodies were stockier and their limbs produced a wider stance than other sauropods.
Titanosaur fossils have been found on all continents except Antarctica and include some 40 species.
The group contains the largest terrestrial animals known, some even approaching the size of modern whales.
The Natural History Museum titanosaur skeleton has been based on remains unearthed a decade ago.
A set of fossilised bones was discovered in Patagonia in 2012, which were thought to belong to six different titanosaur dinosaurs.
Scientists think that they died in a floodplain region before being preserved in mud.
Legendary Tyrannosaurus rex and other meat-eaters 'look like dwarfs when you put them against one of these giant titanosaurs,' said Diego Pol of the Egidio Feruglio paleontology museum.
'It's like when you put an elephant by a lion.'
It is thought that the species got so big as a result of an explosion of flowering plants acting as an all-you-can-eat buffet at the time.
A Patagotitan mayorum skeleton - also known as the titanosaur - has been relocated from Argentina to London to be showcased at the Natural History Museum
Titanosaurs were the last great family of sauropod dinosaurs before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, about 65 million years ago
This will be the first time it will be displayed in Europe, after being loaned by the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF) in Argentina. Pictured: Dinosaur unloaded from aircraft
As the most complete giant dinosaur remains ever discovered, the skeleton will only just fit inside the enormous 30 foot-high (9 m) Waterhouse Gallery in the Natural History Museum
The bones were
