Researchers in Chile’s parched Atacama desert, the world’s driest, have announced the discovery of a new plant-eating giant dinosaur species. The new species is named Arackar licanantay and belongs to the titanosaur dinosaur family tree but is unique due to its dorsal vertebrae.
Fossil specimen belongs to the Cretaceous period
Chilean geologist Carlos Arévalo and his team unearthed Arackar licanantay—a Kunza indigenous language name that means “Atacameño bones.” The species is believed to have lived in the Atacama Region, 80 to 66 million years ago.
The remains belong to a large, quadruped, herbivore with a length of around 6.3 meters but scientists suggest the fossil is that of a juvenile. Adult dinosaurs are estimated to have a length of 8 meters.
Arévalo unearthed the remains with experts from Chile’s National Geology and Mining Service, during a dig south of the city of Copiapó in the same region. The newly-found remains will be exhibited in Chile’s Museum of Natural History after the coronavirus restrictions are lifted.
Dinosaur remains found across the globe
Recently, another research discovered new characteristics of dinosaurs. A new study suggests that Tyrannosaurus formed teams and hunted in packs. Scientists still have polarized views on whether Tyrannosaurs were solitary predators or hunted together.
Utah Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s excavation site shows remains from multiple Tyrannosaurs, boosting the notion of packs. “This supports our hypothesis that these tyrannosaurs died in this site and were all fossilized together; they all died together, and this information is key to our interpretation that the animals were likely gregarious in their behavior,” said Celina Suarez, one of the scientists who made the finding.
Besides, a footprint of a baby dinosaur was discovered in China measuring just 2.24 inches. As per the researchers, the footprint belonged to a small stegosaur. The team also claimed the footprint was surrounded by bigger footprints, hinting that the baby dinosaur was surrounded by adult dinosaurs. This is another piece of evidence that hints that dinosaurs stayed together.
