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Rebachisaurus Tessonei See map

In 1987 at the El Chocón area, Lito Tessone, an employee of the defunct company Hidronor, found the bones of a dinosaur that strengthened the hypothesis that -about 100 million years ago- South America and Africa were united forming the supracontinente Gondwuana called.

The Rebachisaurus Tessonei, an animal of 100 million years, was a medium-sized sauropod that is directly related to a dinosaur found in Morocco in 1954 that was called Rebachisaurus Garasbae, inaugurating a genre among herbivorous dinos.

Therefore, the appearance of this sauropod provided keys to explain the large derived planetary. It is that studies by paleontologist Jorge Calvo have established the similarity between the bones of one and another.

According to the researcher's work at the National University of Comahue the gender Rebachisaurus originated when African and South American landmasses were still together. In addition, the Garasbae was found in the same strata that the dino of El Chocón, that is parallel considered the more complete South American sauropod.

The size of this animal that walked on four legs and had a long neck ranged between 15 and 17 meters and its weight is estimated between 18 and 20 tonnes.

So far, the Rebachisaurus is the only sauropod in which it can be confirmed the presence of gastric or gizzard stones that probably functioned as grinding plant inside the stomach. This is because their teeth were shaped slightly curved pencils and were not fully able to chew the food they ate.

This dinosaur fossils exposed in the museum of the National University of Comahue in Neuquén. And besides, at Gregorio Alvarez museum, located in the Central Park of Neuquén capital city, a full size replica was built.