Skull of dinosaur called ‘one who causes fear’ found in Patagonia.
“Scientists in southern Argentina have found the skull of a large meat-eating dinosaur named “one who causes fear” in the local Mapuche language.”
The following written content via Yahoo
Scientists in southern Argentina have found the skull of a large meat-eating dinosaur named “one who causes fear” in the local Mapuche language.
The horned Llukalkan aliocranianus was around 5 metres (16 feet) long and roamed South America 85 million years ago.
Researchers found remains nearby of another carnivorous dinosaur, something they said was highly unusual.
The findings from Patagonia were published on Tuesday.
Like the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Llukalkan dinosaur was two-legged with very short arms, but was medium-sized compared to the giant T. rex.
It also had short horns and tiny fingers. It was estimated to weigh between one and five tonnes, slightly lighter than an adult African elephant.
It was probably a fearsome predator, with a large skull and a strong bite, according to the research published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The findings suggest it had better hearing than other dinosaurs in the abelisaurids family which likely made it a better hunter, Federico Gianechini, a palaeontologist at the National University of San Luis Argentina told Reuters news agency.
It lived on earth during the Cretaceous period, the last era before dinosaurs were wiped out. Read more from Yahoo! Finance.
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