COOPER

Australia’s Largest Dinosaur

Australotitan cooperensis

“It represents the largest dinosaur yet known from osteological remains in Australia and confirms the presence of gigantic titanosaurian sauropods in eastern Gondwana during the mid-Cretaceous.” – Dr. Scott Hocknull

Based on skeletal remains found so far, ‘Cooper’ is Australia’s largest dinosaur. Named after Cooper Creek and the Cooper Basin where this dinosaur was found. Discovered by landholders, Stuart and Robyn Mackenzie on their property west of Eromanga in 2006.  The site was excavated between 2006-2009, by the Eromanga Natural History Museum, with the scientific and technical support of the Queensland Museum.

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Profile of Cooper

Pronunciation: Oss-trah-low-tie-tan coo-per-ennsiss
Location: West of Eromanga, South-west Queensland, Australia.

Age: Approximately 95-98 million years ago: Cenomanian Epoch , mid-Cretaceous Period.

Size: Based on the prepared remains of Cooper, it’s believed he would have been 30 metres long and 6.5 metres high (ground to hip)

Type: Large-sized plant-eating (herbivorous) sauropod dinosaur.

Formation: Winton Formation, Eromanga Basin.

Classification: Cooper was described in 2021 as new genus and species of Titanosauria, Australotitan cooperensis

Interesting facts about Cooper

  • Cooper’s name Australo – meaning southern in Greek and in reference to the southern continent of Australia;  titan – from the Greek mythological Titan gods and in reference to its gigantic size; cooperensis – being from the Cooper-Eromanga Basin, Cooper Creek system, ‘the Cooper Country”.

  • Largest skeletal remains of a dinosaur ever to be discovered in Australia and is many meters longer than any other

  • Cooper is in the top ten of the largest dinosaurs in the world

  • Cooper represents a new dinosaur species to the world

  • Cooper was found on a tributary of the famous inland river system, Cooper Creek in the Cooper/Eromanga Basin and this is where the nickname came from

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Australotitan’s skeletal remains reside in Eromanga Natural History Museum.

You can get close enough to touch his bones with the Australian Dinosaur Giants Tour