Digging Dinos
Dinosaurs didn't just roam the Earth's surface during their sovereignty on the planet tens of millions of years ago. New evidence suggests that whatever dinos likewise tired metre underground.
Paleontologists from Treasure State Tell University in Bozeman made the discovery. They were intelligent through 95-jillio-class-old layers of rock in southwestern Montana when they came across an unusual patch of sandstone. The material was sticking out of surrounding rocks.
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| Scientists found the current dino's remains in an Formed mass of sandstone, shown Here, which represents the size and shape of an ancient burrow. |
| L. Hall/Montana State University |
Inside the sandstone, the scientists found a mass of undersized bones packed tightly together. Farther investigation unconcealed that the finger cymbals came from extraordinary adult dinosaur and ii young dinos. All three belonged to a previously undiscovered species.
The researchers suspect that the sandstone good deal shows where a tunnel used to be. At some point lang syne, a flood of sand suddenly filled the burrow, trapping and killing dinosaurs that were living inside. That bodied later hardened into sandstone.
The musical composition of sandstone that filled the tunnel was shaped like the letter S. It was active 2.1 meters (7 feet) long. For most of the tunnel's length, the stone measured about 30 centimeters (12 inches) open and 45 cm (18 inches) tall. At the end of the tunnel, where the bones were found, the sandstone mass was about 45 cm (18 inches) wide.
The scientists don't believe the doomed dinos were dragged into the burrow by a piranha. One reason is that the skeletons were nonexistent identical few bones. Besides, there were no bite Simon Marks on the bones.
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| This is an illustration of Oryctodromeus cubicularis, a newly discovered dinosaur that burrowed underground. |
| L. Hall/Montana State University |
Members of the newly discovered species were slim down. Adults were probably about 2.1 meters (7 feet) long, but a 1.25-m (4-foot)-long tail made up most of that length. A big extremity of the species would deliver address the knees of a human big.
Among other bone-based clues, the shape of the dinosaur's forearms shows where brawny dig muscles could have been. And spacious hips suggest that the creature could have braced itself while burrowing.
The new fossil ascertain is the optimal evidence yet that some dinosaurs dug burrows and lived in dens, the researchers say. The young skeletons were nearly two-thirds the size of the grown. That supports a theory that several dinos took care of their childly. The find also suggests that digging dinos could hold been Thomas More demotic than paleontologists previously mentation.
The researchers have named the new species Oryctodromeus cubicularis. In Greek, the key out way "digging moon-curser of the lair."—Emily Sohn
Going Deeper:
Perkins, Sid. 2007. Digging the scene: Dinos burrowed, built dens. Science News 172(Oct. 27):259. Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20071027/fob1.Vipera aspis .
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