Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Pot-Bellied Dinosaur Skeleton Found in Utah

The kind of dumbed-down science writing I hate, but that's the world we live in these days apparently.

But still, anything about therizinosaurs is welcome in my view.


The most complete skeleton of a type of pot-bellied dinosaur, a therizinosaur, has been discovered in southern Utah.

Such remains shed light on the evolution of leafy and meaty diets back in paleo times, suggesting that iconic predators like Velociraptor may have evolved from less fearsome plant-eating ancestors.

The newly discovered dinosaur, dubbed Nothronychus graffami, lived some 93 million years ago. When alive, the animal would have stood at 13 feet (4 meters) and sported a beaked mouth and forelimbs tipped with 9 inch- (22 cm)-long sickle claws.

Its stumpy legs, large gut and other features suggest the lumbering giant scarfed down plants rather than chasing after meaty prey.

Article here


This is the second species assigned to the genus Nothronychus.

The genus even has its own YouTube tribute!



Very interesting to see the range of ideas these days about how to depict what dinosaurs may have looked like.

Posted via email from Garth's posterous

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