In the Dinosaurs series, a talented artist and a noted paleontologist have teamed up to re-create the vanished world of the dinosaurs in comic-book form. Each volume in the series tells the action-packed yet scientifically accurate story of a different dinosaur living in its particular geological time and place. At the back of each volume are several short essays, abundantly illustrated with original drawings and photographs of fossils, that explain more about the creatures and geographical settings encountered in the comic. These essays, written in terms that kids will understand, reveal not only what paleontologists have learned about the age of the dinosaurs, but also how they have learned it, by examining fossils and other types of evidence. Giant vs. Giant , the fifth title in the series, shows what life was like for Argentinosaurus , the largest animal that ever existed. We journey across the plains of prehistoric South America with a group of these outsized herbivores, as they encounter the strange armored sauropod Saltasaurus and the primitive bird Patagopteryx . However, their nemesis, the enormous carnivore Giganotosaurus , is never far behind. The essays following the comic describe the remarkable dinosaurs of the later Cretaceous period, especially the amazingly large species that flourished in what is now Argentina. Praise for the Dinosaurs series: "These books have great individualized forewords, a dinosaur evolutionary tree, and extensive informative essays dealing with the geography, flora and fauna, and other matters of the time period covered." — School Library Journal "... a six-part graphic series grounded in science facts but told partially through fiction. Although the large-format books are aimed at young dino aficionados... the text won't bore adults." — Science News Matteo Bacchin , an illustrator based in Luino, Italy, specializes in paleontological subjects. Marco Signore , a paleontologist, holds a Ph.D. in paleobiology from the University of Bristol and has published his research in Science , Nature , and other international journals. Mark Norell is curator in charge of fossil reptiles, amphibians, and birds at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. FOREWARD By Mark Norell For Most of the history of paleontology ( extending back about 150 years ) the sauropods were the archetypal dinosaurs gigantic but boring. They had small heads, long necks, gigantic bodies and long serpentine takes. They were usually represented as dimwitted giants, gray vegetarians that frequented swamps. These dinosaurs were some the first to be discover and launched a sort of a Bone Rush in the 1870s and 80's as the wealthy patrons of primarily North American museums sent their agents in search of giant skeletons to populate their new dinosaur halls. Primarily these fossils were found in Jurassic formations of the American west. These dinosaur communities, in which sauropods were the dominant herbivores, were in stark contrast to later North American dinosaurs faunas, in which ornithischian dinosaurs like duck bills and horned dinosaurs were the most prevalent plant eaters. The general consensus among paleontologists was that the gigantic sauropods waned in Diversity as other herbivorous specialists took their place. Yet over the last few decades we have found out just how incorrect this picture is. While sauropod may have become less diverse in proto— North America, they flourished in most of the rest of the world. Fossils of sauropods are now known from every continent, their range extending far into the Cretaceous. And it is not only the cosmopolitan distribution of these animals that is remarkable.. They are much more diverse and even weird that previously thought. Some, like Mamenchisaurus and Erketu, Dicraeosaurus had a large frill along the back of its neck; and the African Nigerasaurus had a lawnmower sort of mouth with over 500 teeth. Others, like the Argentinosaurs in this book, were the largest animas that ever walked on Earth. Along with these giant herbivores came giant carnivores, especially in South America and Africa. Mega-carnivores like Giganotosaurus and Carcharadontosaurus undoubtedly made the world dangerous for even the largest sauropods. How did these animals live? This is a difficult question for paleobiologist to answer since we have no terrestrial animals of the same scale to compare them with. Only by making careful inferences from engineering principals can we determine how they held their heads, how much they ate, how they reproduced, how big their internal organs were, whether they were social, or how fast they could move. We have made quite a bit of progress, but therein still an exceptional amount to learn.