Patagonia, in South America, used to be known for extraordinarily big men. Now it’s known for extraordinarily big dinosaurs.
The newest contender for the crown, Patagotitan, was discovered in 2012 and only presented to the world this year. Scientists calculate it as being roughly the size of eleven elephants, and some 120 feet long.
Bob Bakker, the paleontologist who did more than anyone to change the public perception of dinosaurs, once told me he thought God must have taken real delight in creating these giants. Who am I to disagree?
Now that they’re looking for them in the Southern Hemisphere, scientists keep discovering bigger and cooler dinosaurs–it’s hard to keep track of them all. We needn’t take the Darwinian spiel seriously, and we do have to allow for normal human error in reconstructing the whole animal from an incomplete set of bones: but we can certainly step back and admire God’s handiwork.
Any animal this size really ought to make us humble. And this is Mr. Nature, with more of God’s stuff, signing off.