Latest news with #Zelenitsky
Daily Tribune
15 hours ago
- Science
- Daily Tribune
New T-Rex ancestor discovered in drawers of Mongolian institute
AFP | Paris 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 yesterday. This slender ancestor of the massive Tyrannosauru s Rex was around four metres (13 feet) long and weighed three quarters of a tonne, 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. 1970s 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 recognised,' Zelenitsky added. 'Messy' family history 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. North America 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 tonne, 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
17 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Tiny tyrannosaur species discovered in Mongolia
A new species of dinosaur has been discovered, which scientists say shows how tyrannosaurs evolved from smaller predators the size of a horse. The 'Dragon Prince', whose bones were found in a Mongolian museum, is thought to be about 20 million years older than the Tyrannosaurus Rex and provides a 'missing link' in the evolution of the apex predators. The skeleton of the Khankhuuluu Mongoliensis demonstrates where the T-Rex got its vicious bite, researchers who 'rediscovered' the species said. 'We see features in its nasal bone that eventually gave tyrannosaurs those very powerful bite forces,' said Jared Voris, from the University of Calgary, the researcher who found the bones. The fossils were initially found in the early 1970s, but at the time were misidentified as belonging to a different tyrannosaur, Alectrosaurus. The bones were put away in a drawer at the Institute of Palaeontology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in the capital Ulaanbaatar, until they were re-discovered by then-PhD student Mr Voris. He was handed two plastic tubes full of bones while visiting the institute – and eventually found the fossils were partial skeletons of two different dinosaurs from a new species. Darla Zelenitsky, a palaeontologist from the University of Calgary, said: 'It is quite possible that discoveries like this are sitting in other museums that just have not been recognised.' The skeleton shows that the 'Dragon Prince' was about four metres long and weighed only 750kg, according to the findings, published in the academic journal Nature. An adult T-Rex is believed to have weighed eight times as much. 'They were these really small, fleet-footed predators that lived in the shadows of other apex predatory dinosaurs,' said Dr Voris. 'This discovery shows us that, before tyrannosaurs became the kings, they were princes,' said Zelenitsky. The finding is considered a 'transitional' fossil and has helped clarify the evolution of the tyrannosaur family, which was 'really messy previously,' said Dr Zelenitsky. 'What makes them so important is their age,' said Stephen Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the study. 'They are about 86 million years old, a good 20 million years older than T-Rex. It has been a frustrating gap in the record.' The discovery also helps to paint the migration patterns of the tyrannosaurs. They show that T-Rex's direct ancestors probably migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge that used to connect Siberia and Alaska 85 million years ago, Dr Zelenitsky said. Tyrannosaurs then evolved in North America and remained there for the next several million years, she said. 'As the many tyrannosaur species evolved on the continent, they became larger and larger,' said Dr Zelenitsky. The records are incomplete so scientists are unsure of what happened in Asia 80 million years ago. However, the Khankhuuluu may have later been replaced by larger, more dominant, tyrannosaurs. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Star
a day ago
- Science
- The Star
Mongolia's 'Dragon Prince' dinosaur was forerunner of T. rex
This handout artist's illustration made available by University of Calgary on June 6, 2025, shows the newly discovered dinosaur species Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, an ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex. - AFP WASHINGTON: A newly identified mid-sized dinosaur from Mongolia dubbed the "Dragon Prince" has been identified as a pivotal forerunner of Tyrannosaurus rex in an illuminating discovery that has helped clarify the famous predator's complicated family history. Named Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, it lived roughly 86 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period and was an immediate precursor to the dinosaur lineage called tyrannosaurs, which included some of the largest meat-eating land animals in Earth's history, among them T. rex. Khankhuuluu predated Tyrannosaurus by about 20 million years. It was about 4 metres long, weighed about 750 kg, walked on two legs and had a lengthy snout with a mouthful of sharp teeth. More lightly built than T. rex, its body proportions indicate Khankhuuluu was fleet-footed, likely chasing down smaller prey such as bird-like dinosaurs called oviraptorosaurs and ornithomimosaurs. The largest-known T. rex specimen is 12.3 metres. Khankhuuluu means "Dragon Prince" in the Mongolian language. Tyrannosaurus rex means "tyrant king of the lizards." "In the name, we wanted to capture that Khankhuuluu was a small, early form that had not evolved into a king. It was still a prince," said paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky of the University of Calgary in Canada, co-author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. Tyrannosaurs and all other meat-eating dinosaurs are part of a group called theropods. Tyrannosaurs appeared late in the age of dinosaurs, roaming Asia and North America. Khankhuuluu shared many anatomical traits with tyrannosaurs but lacked certain defining characteristics, showing it was a predecessor and not a true member of the lineage. "Khankhuuluu was almost a tyrannosaur, but not quite. For example, the bone along the top of the snout and the bones around the eye are somewhat different from what we see in tyrannosaurs. The snout bone was hollow and the bones around the eye didn't have all the horns and bumps seen in tyrannosaurs," Zelenitsky said. "Khankhuuluu had teeth like steak knives, with serrations along both the front and back edges. Large tyrannosaurs had conical teeth and massive jaws that allowed them to bite with extreme force then hold in order to subdue very large prey. Khankhuuluu's more slender teeth and jaws show this animal took slashing bites to take down smaller prey," Zelenitsky added. The researchers figured out its anatomy based on fossils of two Khankhuuluu individuals dug up in the 1970s but only now fully studied. These included parts of its skull, arms, legs, tail and back bones. The Khankhuuluu remains, more complete than fossils of other known tyrannosaur forerunners, helped the researchers untangle this lineage's evolutionary history. They concluded that Khankhuuluu was the link between smaller forerunners of tyrannosaurs and later true tyrannosaurs, a transitional animal that reveals how these meat-eaters evolved from speedy and modestly sized species into giant apex predators. "What started as the discovery of a new species ended up with us rewriting the family history of tyrannosaurs," said University of Calgary doctoral student and study lead author Jared Voris. "Before this, there was a lot of confusion about who was related to who when it came to tyrannosaur species." Some scientists had hypothesized that smaller tyrannosaurs like China's Qianzhousaurus - dubbed "Pinnochio-rexes" because of their characteristic long snouts - reflected the lineage's ancestral form. That notion was contradicted by the fact that tyrannosaur forerunner Khankhuuluu differed from them in important ways. "The tyrannosaur family didn't follow a straightforward path where they evolved from small size in early species to larger and larger sizes in later species," Zelenitsky said. Voris noted that Khankhuuluu demonstrates that the ancestors to the tyrannosaurs lived in Asia. "Around 85 million years ago, these tyrannosaur ancestors crossed a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska and evolved in North America into the apex predatory tyrannosaurs," Voris said. One line of North American tyrannosaurs later trekked back to Asia and split into two branches - the "Pinnochio-rexes" and massive forms like Tarbosaurus, the researchers said. These apex predators then spread back to North America, they said, paving the way for the appearance of T. rex. Tyrannosaurus ruled western North America at the end of the age of dinosaurs when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. "Khankhuuluu was where it all started but it was still only a distant ancestor of T. rex, at nearly 20 million years older," Zelenitsky said. "Over a dozen tyrannosaur species evolved in the time between them. It was a great-great-great uncle, sort of." - Reuters
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
New species of dinosaur discovered that 'rewrites' T.rex family tree
Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur - in the collection of a Mongolian museum - that they say "rewrites" the evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs. Researchers concluded that two 86 million-year-old skeletons they studied belonged to a species that is now the closest known ancestor of all tyrannosaurs - the group of predators that includes the iconic The researchers named the species Khankhuuluu (pronounced khan-KOO-loo) mongoliensis, meaning Dragon Prince of Mongolia. The discovery, published in Nature, is a window into how tyrannosaurs evolved to become powerful predators that terrorised North America and Asia until the end of the reign of the dinosaurs. "'Prince' refers to this being an early, smaller tyrannosauroid," explained Prof Darla Zelenitsky, a palaeontologist from the University of Calgary in Canada. Tyrannosauroids are the superfamily of carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs. The first tyrannosauroids though were tiny. PhD student Jared Voris, who led the research with Prof Zelenitsky, explained: "They were these really small, fleet-footed predators that lived in the shadows of other apex predatory dinosaurs." Khankhuuluu represents an evolutionary shift - from those small hunters that scampered around during the Jurassic period - to the formidable giants, including T-rex. It would have weighed about 750kg, while an adult could have weighed as much as eight times that, so "this is a transitional [fossil]," explained Prof Zelenitsky, "between earlier ancestors and the mighty tyrannosaurs". "It has helped us revise the tyrannosaur family tree and rewrite what we know about the evolution of tyrannosaurs," she added. The new species also shows early evolutionary stages of features that were key to the tyrannosaurs' tyranny, including skull anatomy that gave it a strong jaw. Jared Voris explained: "We see features in its nasal bone that eventually gave tyrannosaurs those very powerful bite forces." The evolution of such powerful jaws allowed T-rex to pounce on larger prey, and even bite through bone. Tyrannosaur's last meal was two baby dinosaurs Fossil reveals 240 million year-old 'dragon' Solving the mystery of a dinosaur mass grave The two partial skeletons that the team examined in this study were first discovered in Mongolia back in the early 1970s. They were initially assigned to an existing species, known as Alectrosaurus, but when Mr Voris examined them, he identified the Tyrannosaur-like features that set it apart. "I remember getting a text from him - that he thought this was a new species," recalled Prof Zelenitsky. The fact that this group of dinosaurs were able to move between North America and Asia - via land bridges that connected Siberia and Alaska at the time - also helped them to find and occupy different niches. Mr Voris explained: "That movement back and forth between the continents basically pushed the evolution of different tyrannosaur groups" over millions of years. Prof Zelinitsky added: "This discovery shows us that, before tyrannosaurs became the kings, they were they were princes."
Straits Times
a day ago
- Science
- Straits Times
Mongolia's ‘Dragon Prince' dinosaur was forerunner of T. rex
The Khankhuuluu mongoliensis lived roughly 86 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period and was an immediate precursor to the dinosaur lineage called tyrannosaurs. PHOTO: REUTERS ULAANBAATAR - A newly identified mid-sized dinosaur from Mongolia dubbed the "Dragon Prince" has been identified as a pivotal forerunner of Tyrannosaurus rex in an illuminating discovery that has helped clarify the famous predator's complicated family history. Named Khankhuuluu mongoliensis (pronounced khan-KOO-loo mon-gol-ee-EN-sis), it lived roughly 86 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period and was an immediate precursor to the dinosaur lineage called tyrannosaurs, which included some of the largest meat-eating land animals in Earth's history, among them T. rex. Khankhuuluu predated Tyrannosaurus by about 20 million years. It was about 4m long, weighed about 750kg, walked on two legs and had a lengthy snout with a mouthful of sharp teeth. More lightly built than T. rex, its body proportions indicate Khankhuuluu was fleet-footed, likely chasing down smaller prey such as bird-like dinosaurs called oviraptorosaurs and ornithomimosaurs. The largest-known T. rex specimen is 40-1/2 feet long (12.3m). Khankhuuluu means "Dragon Prince" in the Mongolian language. Tyrannosaurus rex means "tyrant king of the lizards." "In the name, we wanted to capture that Khankhuuluu was a small, early form that had not evolved into a king. It was still a prince," said paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky of the University of Calgary in Canada, co-author of the study published on June 11 in the journal Nature. Tyrannosaurs and all other meat-eating dinosaurs are part of a group called theropods. Tyrannosaurs appeared late in the age of dinosaurs, roaming Asia and North America. Khankhuuluu shared many anatomical traits with tyrannosaurs but lacked certain defining characteristics, showing it was a predecessor and not a true member of the lineage. "Khankhuuluu was almost a tyrannosaur, but not quite. For example, the bone along the top of the snout and the bones around the eye are somewhat different from what we see in tyrannosaurs. The snout bone was hollow and the bones around the eye didn't have all the horns and bumps seen in tyrannosaurs," Associate Professor Zelenitsky said. "Khankhuuluu had teeth like steak knives, with serrations along both the front and back edges. Large tyrannosaurs had conical teeth and massive jaws that allowed them to bite with extreme force then hold in order to subdue very large prey. Khankhuuluu's more slender teeth and jaws show this animal took slashing bites to take down smaller prey," Assoc Prof Zelenitsky added. The researchers figured out its anatomy based on fossils of two Khankhuuluu individuals dug up in the 1970s but only now fully studied. These included parts of its skull, arms, legs, tail and back bones. The Khankhuuluu remains, more complete than fossils of other known tyrannosaur forerunners, helped the researchers untangle this lineage's evolutionary history. They concluded that Khankhuuluu was the link between smaller forerunners of tyrannosaurs and later true tyrannosaurs, a transitional animal that reveals how these meat-eaters evolved from speedy and modestly sized species into giant apex predators. "What started as the discovery of a new species ended up with us rewriting the family history of tyrannosaurs," said University of Calgary doctoral student and study lead author Jared Voris. "Before this, there was a lot of confusion about who was related to who when it came to tyrannosaur species." Some scientists had hypothesized that smaller tyrannosaurs like China's Qianzhousaurus - dubbed "Pinnochio-rexes" because of their characteristic long snouts - reflected the lineage's ancestral form. That notion was contradicted by the fact that tyrannosaur forerunner Khankhuuluu differed from them in important ways. "The tyrannosaur family didn't follow a straightforward path where they evolved from small size in early species to larger and larger sizes in later species," Assoc Prof Zelenitsky said. Mr Voris noted that Khankhuuluu demonstrates that the ancestors to the tyrannosaurs lived in Asia. "Around 85 million years ago, these tyrannosaur ancestors crossed a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska and evolved in North America into the apex predatory tyrannosaurs," Mr Voris said. One line of North American tyrannosaurs later trekked back to Asia and split into two branches - the "Pinnochio-rexes" and massive forms like Tarbosaurus, the researchers said. These apex predators then spread back to North America, they said, paving the way for the appearance of T. rex. Tyrannosaurus ruled western North America at the end of the age of dinosaurs when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. "Khankhuuluu was where it all started but it was still only a distant ancestor of T. rex, at nearly 20 million years older," Assoc Prof Zelenitsky said. "Over a dozen tyrannosaur species evolved in the time between them. It was a great-great-great uncle, sort of." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
