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Huanghetitan

Say it: HWANG-heh-tee-TAN
Name means: “Yellow River giant”1
Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Cretaceous

Huanghetitan was a huge, long-necked dinosaur that lived in China during the Early Cretaceous. It was one of the biggest plant-eaters of its time, with a body so deep it might have been the 'fattest' dinosaur ever found in China.21

Lived
126 to 113 million years ago4
Early Cretaceous
Fossils found in
Gansu and Henan provinces, China41
Length
12 to 20 m (39 to 66 ft)12
The smaller species H. liujiaxiaensis was about 12 m long; the larger H. ruyangensis may have reached 20 m or more
Weight
3 tonnes to 55 tonnes (6,600 to 121,300 lb)1
H. liujiaxiaensis weighed about 3 tonnes; H. ruyangensis may have weighed 45 to 55 tonnes
Height
4.5 m (15 ft)
estimate
Top speed
about 14 km/h (9 mph)
Running, estimate
What did Huanghetitan eat?
Huanghetitan was a plant-eater, or herbivore. It ate plants.

When did it live?

Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

Huanghetitan about 20 m long (66 ft)A bicycle about 1.8 m (5.9 ft)A car about 4.5 m (15 ft)An elephant, the biggest land animal today about 6.5 m (21 ft)

How tall was it?

A horseabout 1.6 m (5.2 ft)An elephantabout 3.2 m (10 ft)Huanghetitanabout 4.5 m tall (15 ft)A giraffeabout 5.5 m (18 ft)

estimate

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 9 elephants
as long as 4 cars parked in a rowas long as 110 bananas end to endas heavy as 11000 watermelonsas heavy as 69 whole school classes of kidsas heavy as 120 polar bearstall enough to peek into a window on floor 2could run 100 metres in 26 seconds (the fastest human needs 9.6)

How big was Huanghetitan compared to YOU?

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How fast was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Huanghetitan had a very wide hip area, making it the 'fattest' dinosaur known from China.2

2

The second species, H. ruyangensis, had ribs that were almost 3 meters (10 feet) long, giving it one of the deepest chests of any dinosaur.1

3

Its shoulder blade was 1.23 meters long and very wide, measuring 0.83 meters at its broadest point.2

4

Huanghetitan lived about 125 to 113 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.4

5

The first fossils of Huanghetitan were found in 2002 near Liujiaxia in Gansu, China, and took three years to dig out.2

6

Scientists think H. ruyangensis might have been as heavy as 45 to 55 tonnes, similar to the giant Patagotitan.1

AI-madeAI-made picture of Huanghetitan
An AI-made picture of how Huanghetitan might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.
you asked

Most asked questions about Huanghetitan

?How big was Huanghetitan?

Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis was about 12 metres (39 feet) long and weighed about 3 tonnes (3.3 short tons). The other species, H. ruyangensis, might have weighed 45 to 55 tonnes, similar to Patagotitan.1

?What did Huanghetitan eat?

Huanghetitan was a plant-eater, or herbivore. It ate plants.3

?When did Huanghetitan live?

Huanghetitan lived during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 125 to 113 million years ago.13

?Why did Huanghetitan have such a deep chest?

Huanghetitan ruyangensis had ribs almost 3 metres (10 feet) long, giving it one of the deepest body cavities of any known sauropod. This might have helped it digest huge amounts of plants.13

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For dino experts

Scientific name
Huanghetitan
Named by
You et al. 20064
Group
Long-necks
Family / clade
Somphospondyli4
Classification
Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Macronaria4
Age of the rocks
126 to 113 million years (Barremian / Aptian)4
Rock formations
Upper4
Countries
China4
Fossil records
1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery
Huanghetitan was named in 2006 by Chinese paleontologists You Hailu, Li Daqing, Zhou Lian, and Ji Qiang, based on fossils found in Gansu Province.42
Still debated
Scientists are not sure if the two species, H. liujiaxiaensis and H. ruyangensis, are closely related. Some studies suggest H. ruyangensis may need a new genus name.1

Where the facts come from

  1. Huanghetitan (en.m.wikipedia.org)
  2. 中国地质科学院地质研究所 (igeo.cgs.gov.cn)
  3. HUANGHETITAN : DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
  4. Huanghetitan in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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