Erketu ellisoni

Mongolia is one of the world’s top locations for discovering Cretaceous dinosaurs — famous finds include Velociraptor, Oviraptor and Protoceratops, amongst others.

Less famous, but no less remarkable, is the titanosaur Erketu ellisoni, named after both a traditional Mongolian deity and an artist friend of the discoverer (‘Erketu’ and ‘Ellison’ respectively, in case you were wondering).

Although only known from a handful of bones, including vertebrae, a hindlimb and a sternal plate (chest bone), scientists reckon that Erketu might have had the longest neck relative to body size of any dinosaur, possibly being as much as twice as long as the rest of the body.

This is predicted from the fact that the known vertebrae appear to be elongated, but a more precise estimate would require further fossil material to turn up. In total, researchers think Erketu may have reached about 15 metres in length — modest for a titanosaur, but still pretty damn huge.

EXTRA CONTEXT: Like many other prolific fossil beds, it is thought that the site from which Erketu is known, Bor Guvé, was a floodplain, with flash floods wiping out and preserving snapshots of ecosystems long-forgotten. Amongst other fossils found nearby are turtles, predatory dinosaurs and an abundant fruit that resembles modern-day okra (‘ladies fingers’).

FURTHER READING: As well as having lots of text and tables of numbers, this research paper from 2006 has its fair share of photographs, including some of the extended vertebrae that gave this dinosaur its oversized neck.