Fossil researchers in Argentina announced on Tuesday that they had uncovered evidence of the existence of a "Jurassic Park" in the heart of the Patagonia region. Dinosaur fossils were found there, and according to the researchers, this is probably "the most significant discovery ever"
Fossil researchers in Argentina announced on Tuesday that they had uncovered evidence of the existence of a "Jurassic Park" in the heart of the Patagonia region. Dinosaur fossils were found there, and according to the researchers, this is probably "the most significant discovery ever".
The findings were discovered in Chobot - on an arid plateau located about 1,500 km south of Buenos Aires. These are fossils of some unknown species of dinosaurs from the Jurassic period, about 160-150 million years ago. The experts estimate that they have so far uncovered only about 2% of the fossil deposit, which extends over several hundred square kilometers in southern Argentina.
"This is a Yura Park for its name," says Gerardo Caldera, from the Ahidio Ferolio Museum in Terlevy, the head of the delegation. "The discovery is of enormous importance, first of all because of its scope, and secondly because of its age."
Caldera explains that fossils from the Middle Jurassic period are extremely rare. "So far they have only been found in China and Madagascar (...) and therefore we know so little about the evolution of the winged dinosaurs of the pterosaur type, and about other mammals from this important period."
The high level of the sea during the tropical Jurassic period, about 144-213 million years ago, shows that the dinosaurs at that time could only survive on a relatively limited area of land, without being washed into the waters of the oceans, Caldera adds.
The newly found species - which the experts have yet to sort and name - include two herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs about ten meters long; and a predatory Theropodus, larger. The team also found a fossil of an unknown mammal the size of a rat, although not a rodent. One of the sauropod fossils was found intact, an extremely rare case.
Argentina is known as a site where dinosaur remains are found. The name "Jurassic Park" was borrowed from Steven Spielberg's famous film, which describes a park where dinosaurs cloned from fossil tissues live.
A week ago, fossil researchers discovered in another province in southwestern Argentina - Naucan - the remains of an unknown vegetarian animal, which were about 95 million years old. The area was nicknamed the "Valley of the Dinosaurs" due to the amount of fossil remains found there.
In the XNUMXs and XNUMXs, the remains of two dinosaurs were found in Chobot, but the search in the area was stopped and resumed only about six months ago. This, after one of the local farmers discovered bones sticking out of a rock. The Matreloi museum team intends to expand the excavations at the site at the beginning of this coming March.
{Appeared in the Haaretz newspaper, 16/2/2001} The Hidan site was until 2002 part of the IOL portal from the Haaretz group
Discovery: the largest carnivorous dinosaur
13/5/2001
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.
The researchers believe that the new dinosaur, whose name has not yet been published, was a relative of the Gigantosaurus. "He looks as cruel as him and the T-Rex, if not worse," said Dr. Philip Kerry, one of the Canadian team members, in an interview with the BBC. "This guy had a long snout, a long skull and unbelievably sharp teeth."
Excavations at the site, at the foot of the Andes Mountains, began in 95 after a local farmer led a paleontologist from the Carmen Pons Municipal Museum there. The researchers discovered at the site animals that were trapped in the muddy ground of that time and were preserved.
Researchers from Canada and the USA joined their Argentinian colleagues in 97. When they first came across the bones of the new species, they thought it was another Gigantosaurus. Later, the researchers realized that it was a completely new species, a relative of the Gigantosaurus.
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.
The bones of the dinosaur discovered in Patagonia. Its weight was 9 tons, and its length was 14 meters. "As cruel as the T-Rex, if not worse," say the researchers.
