The largest animals that have ever walked the earth are super-giant sauropods.
Other dinosaurs or mammals don't even come close to their size.
According to a study, sauropods have changed their size about three dozen times over the course of 100 million years. It was previously believed that these titans changed their dimensions only a few times in evolutionary history.
The researchers measured the body weights of almost 200 species of sauropods and concluded that the animals changed their size more than once, in contradiction to the popular 19th century Cope's Rule.
Scientists suggest that the huge size of sauropods was due to the ecological context and available niches.
Saurropods include dinosaurs with elongated necks: brachiosaurs, apatosaurs.
