Discovery: the largest carnivorous dinosaur * 2001 concentration

2 unknown species of dinosaurs have been discovered in the USA
21/06/2001
The strange Neutronichus and a small predator from the zoolosaur family lived 90 million years ago in a swampy forest

Reuters, Haaretz

Scientists, investigating a mysterious period in the age of dinosaurs, excavated and discovered two new species of dinosaurs in the state of New Mexico. One of the species, which the researchers say is "very, very strange," belongs to the same lineage as the super-carnivore Tyrannosaurus rex, but was content to eat plants.

Paleontologists Jim Kirkland and Doug Wolff, who announced the discovery, said the two dinosaurs - the strange Neuteronychus and a small predator from the as-yet-unnamed zoolosaur family - lived 90 million years ago in a swampy forest. Both had bird-like features, and both were likely feathered. They were less than a mile apart, near
הגבול שבין ניו מקסיקו ואריזונה, באזור המכונה אגן זוני, שהיה במרחק של כמה קילומטרים מחופי ים, שרוחבו כ-1,600 ק"מ, אשר חילק את צפון אמריקה. באותה תקופה – אמצע תקופת הקרטיקון של עידן המזוזואיקון
– היתה התחממות קיצונית בכדור הארץ, שהמיסה את כיפות הקרח בקטבים, העלתה את גובה האוקיינוסים במידה ניכרת והפחיתה את כמות האדמה היבשה על הפלנטה. כמעט שלא נמצאו מאובנים של דינוזאורים מתקופה זו. "הגילוי פותח צוהר לתקופה שאלמלא כן לא היינו יודעים עליה", אמר טום הולץ, פליאונתולוג באוניברסיטת מרילנד שתרם למחקר.

Nechus is a member of the theropod class of meat-eating dinosaurs, which includes Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus, but it likely evolved to be a vegetarian, said Kirkland, Utah's state paleontologist. It weighed about a ton, was about 4.5 to 6 meters long and stood about 3.5-3 meters tall. It was bipedal, and walked more upright than its carnivorous relatives. It had a long and thin neck, long arms, nimble hands, curved claws about 10 cm long on its fingers, a large belly, a small head, leaf-like teeth suitable for cutting vegetables and a relatively short tail.

Neuteronychus is the first dinosaur from the group of dinosaurs called therizinosaurus to be found in the United States. The other dinosaurs belonging to the group were found in China and Mongolia. Kirkland said the dinosaur reminded him of large, slow, large-clawed mammals that lived in the Ice Age.
ונכחדו לפני עשרת אלפים שנה. "מקבילה מודרנית יכולה להיות הפנדה, שגם היא צמחונית אף שהתפתחה מאוכלי בשר", אמר הולץ.

No feathers were found on the Neutronichus fossil, but researchers speculate that the dinosaur had feathers that left no trace of the muddy environment in which it was found.

הזולוזאור קטן יותר מהנותרונייכוס: אורכו כשניים וחצי מטר וגובהו כמטר. גופו מזכיר את זה של הטירנוזאורוס, הגדול הרבה יותר, אך לזולוזאור יש זרועות ארוכות יותר באופן יחסי. הוא ניזון מלטאות ומיונקים קטנים. וולף כינה את הזולוזאור "הקויוט
of the Cretaceous period".

No feathers were found on the zoolosaurus either, but the researchers speculate that it had feathers around its head, along its back, arms and legs.

A painting by Nathronichos. "A modern equivalent could be the panda"

A drawing of a zoolosaurus. "The Coyote of the Cretaceous Period"

http://www2.iol.co.il/hayadan/images/dino_usa.jpg
notronypus.jpg

Fossils found in Brazil may belong to the world's oldest dinosaur
26/05/2001 The findings - the typical skull and spine
to dinosaurs that lived about 240 million years ago

Paleontologists discovered during work in southern Brazil fossils of what may be one of the oldest dinosaurs in the world. Researcher Jorge Frigolo said Friday that the fossils - skull and spine - are typical of dinosaurs that lived 235 to 241 million years ago. The oldest fossils found so far were 210-230 million years old.

The findings were discovered by chance in the Dona Francisca area, during road construction works. Shortly after finding the fossils, Perigolo said: "There are many fossils that are still buried in the rocks. The samples we took out are typical of dinosaurs, but other, more primitive samples are of thecodonts (the ancestors of the dinosaurs)."

A "cousin of the dinosaur T. rex" was discovered in the UK

13/05/2001
Next to the Eutyranus skeleton is a skeleton of a carnivore - a plant-eating waldosaurus

News agencies

A brand new species of predatory dinosaur, a "cousin" of the Tyrannosaurus rex, has been discovered on the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, south of the city of Portsmouth. This is one of the most significant archaeological finds discovered in Britain.

Aeotyranus langi - named after Gwynn Lang, a local collector who found the first bone - was a 4.5 meter high carnivorous taropod that lived during the Cretaceous period, about 120 to 125 million years ago.

The bones of the dinosaur, which were discovered on the edge of a cliff near the village of Bridgestone near Newport, caused great excitement among scientists from around the world, as the findings complete a missing link in the evolutionary chain of the T-Rex and other predators that appeared at a later time. From the findings, it appears that the Eutyranus was probably one of the ancestors of the T-Rex.

Among other things, the scientists speculate that the Eutyranus is also a relative of the velociraptor - a predatory dinosaur made famous in the movie "Jurassic Park". Some members of the research team suggested that all three dinosaurs - Eutyranus, T. rex and Velorkiaptor - evolved in the late Jurassic period 140 million years ago, from an unknown species of small carnivorous dinosaur, similar to Velociraptor.

The skeleton of Eutyranus Langi was found next to another skeleton of a plant-eating dinosaur from the same period - Holdosaurus, a species that was eaten by carnivorous dinosaurs. The Eutyranus skeleton is one of four carnivorous dinosaur skeletons found intact in Britain.

Discovery: the largest carnivorous dinosaur

Tamara Traubman

Researchers in Patagonia have discovered bones that probably belong to the largest predatory dinosaur ever discovered. The excavations revealed the bones of five more dinosaurs belonging to this species, which was not known until now.

The researchers say that the discovery of the dinosaur remains in close proximity to each other challenges the assumption that the large predatory dinosaurs used to be solitary, and raises the possibility that they lived and hunted in groups.

The dinosaurs that were discovered lived about 100 million years ago. They had a short tail and front legs, a long, narrow skull, and scissor-shaped jaws.

The researchers did not find a complete skeleton, but based on the preserved bones they estimate that the weight of a dinosaur of this species was about 9 tons and its length reached almost 14 meters. For comparison, the length of the carnivorous dinosaur considered to be the largest so far, Gigantosaurus, reached about 12.5 meters and the length of the T-Rex about 12 meters.

החוקרים סבורים שהדינוזאור החדש, ששמו טרם פורסם, היה קרוב משפחה של הג'יגנטוזאורוס. "הוא נראה אכזר כמוהו וכמו הטי-רקס, אם לא רע יותר", אמר ד"ר פיליפ קרי, אחד מחברי הצוות הקנדים, בראיון לבי-בי-סי. "לבחור הזה היה חוטם ארוך, גולגולת ארוכה ושינים חדות במידה שלא תיאמן".

החפירות באתר, למרגלות הרי האנדים, החלו ב-,'95 לאחר שחקלאי מקומי הוביל לשם פלאונתולוג מהמוזיאון העירוני ע"ש כרמן פונס. החוקרים גילו באתר חיות שנלכדו בקרקע הבוצית של אותה עת והשתמרו.

חוקרים מקנדה וארה"ב הצטרפו לעמיתיהם הארגנטינאים ב-.'97 כשנתקלו לראשונה בעצמות המין החדש, הם חשבו שמדובר בעוד ג'יגנטוזאורוס. מאוחר יותר הבינו החוקרים שמדובר במין חדש לגמרי, שהוא קרוב משפחה של הג'יגנטוזאורוס.

The researchers announced the discovery of the new species about a year ago, but only yesterday did they reveal it and give more details about it. They estimated that the size of the dinosaur was close to the limits of the possible size for dinosaurs - a larger terrestrial predator would have had difficulty hunting.

עצמות הדינוזאור שהתגלה בפטגוניה. משקלו היה 9 טונות, ואורכו 14 מטר. "אכזר כמו הטי-רקס, אם לא רע יותר", אומרים החוקרים (תצלום: אי-פי)

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