Latest news with #InstituteofPaleontology
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Fossils found in 1970s are most recent ancestor of tyrannosaurs, scientists say
Tyrannosaurs might evoke images of serrated teeth, massive bodies and powerful tails, but their most recent ancestor yet discovered was a slender, fleet-footed beast of rather more modest size. Experts say the new species – identified from two partial skeletons – helps fill a gap in the fossil record between the small, early ancestors of tyrannosaurs and the huge predators that evolved later. Related: Birds were nesting in the Arctic during age of dinosaurs, scientists discover 'They're almost the immediate ancestor of the family called that we call tyrannosaurs,' said Dr Darla Zelenitsky, co-author of the study at the University of Calgary. Writing in the journal Nature, Zelenitsky and colleagues report how they re-examined fossils unearthed in Mongolia in the early 1970s, and now held at the Institute of Paleontology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. The team discovered the 86m-year-old skeletons did not belong to the tyrannosaur ancestor they had previously been identified with, an enigmatic creature called Alectrosaurus olseni. Instead, they belonged to a new species the researchers have called Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, meaning 'Prince of Dragons of Mongolia'. Jared Voris, first author of the research, said the fossils showed signs of some typical tyrannosaur features. However, others were absent. While later predators, such as T rex, could reach colossal sizes, weighing up to 8,000kg, Khankhuuluu was more modest, at about 4 metres in length and weighing about 750kg. Voris said that while humans would have been a mere snack to a T rex, they would have been the perfect prey for Khankhuuluu had they lived at the same time. 'You would have been the thing that it would hunt down, and it would have been faster than you,' he said. 'I would much rather run into an adult T rex than run into Khankhuuluu.' The discovery also sheds light on a group of small, long-nosed tyrannosaurs called Alioramus – often called 'Pinocchio rexes' – that some had proposed might sit closer to the ancestors of tyrannosaurs on the family tree than to T rex and its ilk. However, the new work shows this is not the case. 'We found that their closest relatives are the giant forms like T rex and Tarbosaurus,' said Zelenitsky. The team say that suggests Alioramus was something of a quirk, evolving an exaggerated juvenile tyrannosaur form within a part of the family tree dominated by behemoths. The researchers then used a computer model that incorporated the new tyrannosaur family tree, together with the age and locations of known species, to explore when and where missing relatives would have emerged. This enabled them to unpick the waves of migration made by tyrannosaurs and their ancestors over land bridges between Asia and North America. Zelenitsky noted such movements were found to be less sporadic and frequent than previously thought. The results revealed Khankhuuluu, or closely related species in Asia, migrated to North America where tyrannosaurs subsequently evolved. Some tyrannosaurs later moved back into Asia, where the large Tarbosaurus and smaller Pinocchio rexes emerged. Finally, some huge species of tyrannosaur migrated back to North America, giving rise to T rex and other enormous predators. Prof Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the work, said the age of Khankhuuluu was important, given there are so few fossils from that time. Brusatte added the relatively small size of Khankhuuluu showed it was only later that tyrannosaurs became colossal, while the study also reveals a few big migration events back and forth between Asia and North America were the drivers of much of tyrannosaur evolution. 'The tyrannosaur family tree was shaped by migration, just like so many of our human families,' he said.
Asharq Al-Awsat
a day ago
- Science
- Asharq Al-Awsat
New T-Rex Ancestor Discovered in Drawers of Mongolian Institute
Misidentified bones that languished in the drawers of a Mongolian institute for 50 years belong to a new species of tyrannosaur that rewrites the family history of the mighty T-Rex, scientists said Wednesday. This slender ancestor of the massive Tyrannosaurus Rex was around four meters (13 feet) long and weighed three quarters of a ton, according to a new study in the journal Nature. "It would have been the size of a very large horse," study co-author Darla Zelenitsky of Canada's University of Calgary told AFP. The fossils were first dug up in southeastern Mongolia in the early 1970s, but at the time were identified as belonging to a different tyrannosaur, Alectrosaurus. For half a century, the fossils sat in the drawers at the Institute of Paleontology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in the capital Ulaanbaatar. Then PhD student Jared Voris, who was on a trip to Mongolia, started looking through the drawers and noticed something was wrong, Zelenitsky said. It turned out the fossils were well-preserved, partial skeletons of two different individuals of a completely new species. "It is quite possible that discoveries like this are sitting in other museums that just have not been recognized," Zelenitsky added. They named the new species Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, which roughly means the dragon prince of Mongolia because it is smaller than the "king" T-Rex. Zelenitsky said the discovery "helped us clarify a lot about the family history of the tyrannosaur group because it was really messy previously". The T-Rex represented the end of the family line. It was the apex predator in North America until 66 million years ago, when an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into the Gulf of Mexico. Three quarters of life on Earth was wiped out, including all the dinosaurs that did not evolve into birds. Around 20 million years earlier, Khankhuuluu -- or another closely related family member -- is now believed to have migrated from Asia to North America using the land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska. This led to tyrannosaurs evolving across North America. Then one of these species is thought to have crossed back over to Asia, where two tyrannosaur subgroups emerged. One was much smaller, weighing under a ton, and was nicknamed Pinocchio rex for its long snout. The other subgroup was huge and included behemoths like the Tarbosaurus, which was only a little smaller than the T-rex. One of the gigantic dinosaurs then left Asia again for North America, eventually giving rise to the T-Rex, which dominated for just two million years until the asteroid struck.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NM paleontologist on team researching new dinosaur species
Mar. 27—More than 90 million years ago, a creature with a long neck and two claw-baring fingers roamed the Earth, grabbing plants and sinking its sharp, small leaf-shaped teeth into the greenery hanging from trees. This new species of dinosaur was found in 2012 by an international research team that included New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Executive Director Anthony Fiorillo. The scientists published a research paper on the Duonychus tsogtbaatari this week in the scientific journal iScience. "This work not only opens up new possibilities for research on a little-understood family of dinosaurs," Fiorillo said in a news release, "but it also showcases how international partnerships play a key role in our museum's research." The discovery started in southern Mongolia when a construction crew noticed something strange while putting down water pipelines. When they realized what was beneath the ground wasn't rock, but large bones, the crew called authorities at the Institute of Paleontology at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in Ulaanbaatar — the capitol of Mongolia. The claw of the dinosaur was fully intact and completely fossilized, something that does not commonly occur, Fiorillo said in an interview. The discovery also suggests that dinosaurs seemed to generally evolve toward a reduction of digits. "The fact that we have a left and right hand when we recognized that there were only two fingers on each hand, that's when the light bulb went on, it's like, wow, this is not supposed to be the case," Fiorillo said. "That's what started us to get really excited by what we had." The newly discovered dinosaur is believed to have been a herbivore or omnivore and part of a group of theropod dinosaurs that lived in central and eastern Asia and western North America, including New Mexico. "In New Mexico, there are remains of this group of dinosaurs," Fiorillo said. "Not specifically duonychus, but therizinosaurus in general have been found here. This dinosaur does actually shed some light on dinosaurs within our own state." Fiorillo was selected to be part of the research team by his former student — Yoshitsugu Kobayashi — who Fiorillo collaborated with to release the research paper titled "Didactyl therizinosaur with a preserved keratinous claw from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia," after unveiling the new dinosaur species. "Now that we have this paper, we have to figure out what we want to do next," he said. "We have to decide if we want to investigate this rock unit further and see if we can find other examples of this animal. We also need to get this knowledge out to the public and frame it in the context of what it means for New Mexico."
CNN
25-03-2025
- Science
- CNN
Largest fully preserved dinosaur claw unearthed in Mongolia's Gobi Desert
With distinctive two-fingered claws, the remains of a previously unknown species of dinosaur suggest it looked like a bizarre mix of sloth, giraffe and cult movie hero Edward Scissorhands, according to new research. Paleontologists unearthed the fossil in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, and the find is unique because the sheath of one of the digits is intact. Made of keratin (the same material as fingernails), the sheath reveals that the claw itself was much longer than the underlying bones. It is the largest claw of its kind found fully preserved in this way, researchers say. 'It's close to a foot in size,' said paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor at the University of Calgary in Canada and coauthor of a study on the discovery published in the journal iScience. 'This is by far the biggest claw preserved for a dinosaur that has that keratinous sheath on it.' The dinosaur has been given the scientific name Duonychus tsogtbaatari, in honor of Mongolian paleontologist Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar. The genus name Duonychus means two claws in Greek. Duonychus tsogtbaatari was part of an awkward-looking group of dinosaurs known as therizinosaurs, which were part of the theropod family that includes Tyrannosaurus rex. Therizinosaurs, however, were plant-eaters or omnivores — not apex predators. The newly discovered dinosaur stood about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and would have weighed 573 pounds (260 kilograms). It likely used its curved claws to reach vegetation, and it could have grasped branches up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) in diameter, according to the study. As well as two claws, the paleontologists also found fossilized parts of the prehistoric creature's backbone, tail, hips, arms and legs. The fossil was discovered by staff at Mongolia's Institute of Paleontology, part of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, several years ago, Zelenitsky said. Besides grasping, the two-fingered hands may have been used for display or as formidable weapons when needed, Zelenitsky said. 'They weren't predators, but they could defend themselves with those claws. They were big and very sharp,' she said. The best comparison for the distinctive digits among living animals would be the claws of a sloth, used for hanging onto tree branches, Zelenitsky added. Hands that looked like 'barbeque tongs' The discovery of Duonychus tsogtbaatari's claw is an 'exciting' find, said David Hone, a paleontologist and reader in zoology at Queen Mary University of London, who wasn't involved in the research. 'I've seen fragments from other specimens from the Gobi, but never a whole sheath like this. The kind of preservation here, which is common to the vast majority of dinosaur bearing formations, doesn't usually preserve keratin,' said Hone, who is the author of the 2024 book 'Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior: What They Did and How We Know.' 'So that's really important as we know there's a pretty uncertain relationship between the keratin and the underlying bone,' he added via email. Most therizinosaurs had long claws to grab and manipulate plants, giving them 'this reputation as Edward Scissorhands dinosaurs,' said Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology at the University of Edinburgh, referring to the titular character in the 1990 hit movie who had large scissor blades for hands. 'But this one is unique in having only two fingers on each of its giant arms, so they really do look like oversized tongs you might use when barbequing,' Brusatte, who wasn't involved in the research, said. Only a few groups of dinosaurs had two fingers, most famously Tyrannosaurus rex, while single-fingered dinosaurs were even rarer, Brusatte added. 'But whereas T. rex probably wasn't using its pathetic little arms for much, and definitely not for combat or subduing prey, these therizinosaurs were using them as an integral part of their feeding strategy,' he added. Zelenitsky said the dinosaur likely had feathers as other therizinosaurs 'were covered in feathers,' adding to their 'odd-looking demeanour.' 'This is yet another example of a wonderful new dinosaur that we couldn't have dreamed ever existed if we didn't find its fossils,' Brusatte said.
CNN
25-03-2025
- Science
- CNN
Largest fully preserved dinosaur claw unearthed in Mongolia's Gobi Desert
With distinctive two-fingered claws, the remains of a previously unknown species of dinosaur suggest it looked like a bizarre mix of sloth, giraffe and cult movie hero Edward Scissorhands, according to new research. Paleontologists unearthed the fossil in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, and the find is unique because the sheath of one of the digits is intact. Made of keratin (the same material as fingernails), the sheath reveals that the claw itself was much longer than the underlying bones. It is the largest claw of its kind found fully preserved in this way, researchers say. 'It's close to a foot in size,' said paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor at the University of Calgary in Canada and coauthor of a study on the discovery published in the journal iScience. 'This is by far the biggest claw preserved for a dinosaur that has that keratinous sheath on it.' The dinosaur has been given the scientific name Duonychus tsogtbaatari, in honor of Mongolian paleontologist Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar. The genus name Duonychus means two claws in Greek. Duonychus tsogtbaatari was part of an awkward-looking group of dinosaurs known as therizinosaurs, which were part of the theropod family that includes Tyrannosaurus rex. Therizinosaurs, however, were plant-eaters or omnivores — not apex predators. The newly discovered dinosaur stood about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and would have weighed 573 pounds (260 kilograms). It likely used its curved claws to reach vegetation, and it could have grasped branches up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) in diameter, according to the study. As well as two claws, the paleontologists also found fossilized parts of the prehistoric creature's backbone, tail, hips, arms and legs. The fossil was discovered by staff at Mongolia's Institute of Paleontology, part of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, several years ago, Zelenitsky said. Besides grasping, the two-fingered hands may have been used for display or as formidable weapons when needed, Zelenitsky said. 'They weren't predators, but they could defend themselves with those claws. They were big and very sharp,' she said. The best comparison for the distinctive digits among living animals would be the claws of a sloth, used for hanging onto tree branches, Zelenitsky added. Hands that looked like 'barbeque tongs' The discovery of Duonychus tsogtbaatari's claw is an 'exciting' find, said David Hone, a paleontologist and reader in zoology at Queen Mary University of London, who wasn't involved in the research. 'I've seen fragments from other specimens from the Gobi, but never a whole sheath like this. The kind of preservation here, which is common to the vast majority of dinosaur bearing formations, doesn't usually preserve keratin,' said Hone, who is the author of the 2024 book 'Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior: What They Did and How We Know.' 'So that's really important as we know there's a pretty uncertain relationship between the keratin and the underlying bone,' he added via email. Most therizinosaurs had long claws to grab and manipulate plants, giving them 'this reputation as Edward Scissorhands dinosaurs,' said Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology at the University of Edinburgh, referring to the titular character in the 1990 hit movie who had large scissor blades for hands. 'But this one is unique in having only two fingers on each of its giant arms, so they really do look like oversized tongs you might use when barbequing,' Brusatte, who wasn't involved in the research, said. Only a few groups of dinosaurs had two fingers, most famously Tyrannosaurus rex, while single-fingered dinosaurs were even rarer, Brusatte added. 'But whereas T. rex probably wasn't using its pathetic little arms for much, and definitely not for combat or subduing prey, these therizinosaurs were using them as an integral part of their feeding strategy,' he added. Zelenitsky said the dinosaur likely had feathers as other therizinosaurs 'were covered in feathers,' adding to their 'odd-looking demeanour.' 'This is yet another example of a wonderful new dinosaur that we couldn't have dreamed ever existed if we didn't find its fossils,' Brusatte said.
