Argentinosaurus is a massive genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur. A titan among titans, it is the largest named dinosaur currently known to science and one of the largest creatures to ever walk the earth, this behemoth made its home in Early Cretaceous South America, living alongside the massive theropod Mapusaurus roseae.
Argentinosaurus currently has a singular species, however it does have a sister species, Patagotitan mayorum, another gigantic if not quite as big titanosaur that lived after Argentinosaurus.
Like many titanosaurs, Argentinosaurus lacked any digits on the front feet, missing even the dewclaw indicative of animals such as Diplodocus and Apatosaurus. With a fairly upright posture that might remind some people of Brachiosaurus, these colossi browsed high foliage. Fossil evidence of other titanosaurs might suggest that Argentinosaurus had osteoderms along its back.
Chased by Dinosaurs (2002)[]
History and Design
The Argentinosaurus is green in color, with darker markings along the top.
Inaccuracies
- Argentinosaurus is oversized at 100 tonnes, most estimates put it in the 80 tonne range instead
- The model has a strangely short, human-like face,
- An incorrect body shape and posture with equal length limbs. In reality, it should have longer forelims.
- Argentinosaurus is shown living alongside Giganotosaurus in Chased by Dinosaurs, while the real animal was a contemporary of the closely related Mapusaurus. However, Chased by Dinosaurs was made three years prior to the discovery of Mapusaurus.
Role
Nigel Marven's main goal in the episode is to find a herd of Argentinosaurus. The first
Cultural significance
Gallery
Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia (2007)[]
History and Design
Gallery
A pair of Argentinosaurus feeding
History and Design
Greyish with green markings along the back and sides.
Inaccuracies
Oversized, incorrect posture, correct body shape and the wrong nostril placement, too many digits on the hind feet (five, there should always be three) Argentinosaurus is shown living alongside Giganotosaurus, when in reality it lived alongside Mapusaurus.
Role
Secondary protagonist
Cultural significance
Dino Lab II[]
History and Design
Role
Inaccuracies
Gallery
Planet Dinosaur (2011)[]
History and Design
The Argentinosaurus is beige with a brownish colouring on top of the animal.
Accuracies and Inaccuracies
It has an incorrect body shape, but a correct head with a jaw that goes behind the eye, and is shrinkwrapped, to the point it looks almost like a zombie.
Role In the Planet Dinosaur episode New Giants, a baby Argentinosaurus hatches from its egg and a Lacusovagus almost immediately eats it. A Skorpiovenator appears, scaring away the Lacusovagus and gulping down the Argentinosaurus hatchling. As the abelisaurid gulps down more Argentinosaurus hatchlings, it lifts up its head and sees an adult Argentinosaurus towering over it, and it flees in fear. While the Argentinosaurus feed on the surrounding vegetation, a few individuals lay eggs in their nests. They are soon watched by a single Mapusaurus. Later, a herd of Argentinosaurus travel to find trees to browse on, and as they do so, they inadvertently create quicksand by churning up the ground with each step, and some Gasparinisaura fall into the quicksand and get sucked into it. The Argentinosaurus get on with feeding, with some rearing onto their hind legs to reach the higher vegetation in the trees while John Hurt talks about their adaptations to eat high vegetation. They then stop feeding when a pack of Mapusaurus attacks them. Although some sauropods do rear up in defense, the Mapusaurus find a weak sauropod in the herd and snack on it. The Argentinosaurus isn’t fatally wounded, however. During the attack, one Argentinosaurus gets agitated and flattens one of the Mapusaurus with its front feet. Near the end of the Planet Dinosaur episode New Giants, hordes of Skorpiovenator, Mapusaurus and Lacusovagus feed off the Argentinosaurus wounded by the Mapusaurus and a time lapse is shown of them feeding on the Argentinosaurus until it is nothing more than a skeleton. The episode soon ends with the Argentinosaurus skeleton becoming a fossil.
Cultural significance
Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal (2019)[]
Species
A. huinculensis
History and Design
Inaccuracies
A Camarasaurus like head, oversized, also pictured as being able to move at considerable speeds, something the sheer size of the animal wouldn't permit.
Role
Cultural significance