South African scientists piece together 'new dinosaur species'

After 20 years of collecting fossils, team believes sauropod-like specimen, nicknamed Highland Giant, was largest animal to roam Karoo region

A dinosaur reconstruction effort that began with half a giant thigh bone discovered in South Africa is puzzling palaeontologists, who think they might have stumbled across a new species.

After 20 years of patient collection, researchers finally have enough fossils to put together a complete picture of a 14-tonne creature from the sauropoda group of dinosaurs, characterised by their small head, long neck, long tail and elephant-like gait.