Terrible Lizards

S12DB17 Why Palaeontologists Hate 'Biggest Dinosaur' Headlines

August 5, 2026·10 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

In this bite from an old live stream, Iszi Lawrence and Dr Dave Hone discuss why claims of the "largest dinosaur ever" are much harder to prove than the headlines suggest. They explore how palaeontologists estimate the size of enormous titanosaurs, why complete skeletons are so rare, and why finding an even bigger individual is always a possibility. Along the way they also discuss whether dinosaurs ever stopped growing, why weight matters more than length when comparing giant animals, and why every new "biggest dinosaur" announcement should be treated with a healthy dose of scientific scepticism. Link to the article in Live Science https://www.livescience.com/largest-dinosaur-discovered-in-argentina.html Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/97pjZ7sDz2Q If you'd like to support the podcast and get bonus episodes every month, join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/terriblelizards If you enjoy Terrible Lizards, please like, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow dinosaur fan - it really helps us keep making new episodes.

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