Paleontologists announced Thursday, July 7, that they have discovered the remains of a giant new dinosaur in Argentina, notable for its massive head and small arms. baptized Meraxes gigas – Named after the dragon featured in the TV series “Game of Thrones”, this carnivorous predator was discovered during a four-year excavation in northern Patagonia, Argentina. The skull was first discovered in 2012. “We won the lottery, we found it out the first morning” excavations, explained AFP Peter Makovicki of the University of Minnesota, in the United States.
The skull measured more than 1.20 meters and the animal more than ten meters for a weight of about four tons. But his upper limbs were no longer than 60 centimeters “be half a skull” and the animal could not use them “reach her mouth”, says the researcher. A team of scientists who published the results of their research in a scientific journal Current Biology, believes that the small size of the hands gave the animal a certain advantage in terms of survival. According to Peter Makovichki, the head increased in size, becoming the dominant tool in their predatory arsenal, taking over the function of the upper limbs in smaller species.
Juan Canale, co-author of the study and project manager at the Ernesto Bachmann Museum in Neuquén, southern Argentina, goes further. “I am convinced that these proportionally reduced weapons had a function. The skeleton shows large muscle insertions and a fully developed pectoral girdle, so the arms had strong muscles.”– he clarified in the press release. “They may have used their hands for their reproductive behaviors, such as holding the female during mating or supporting each other to get up after a break or fall.”.
Meraxes lived on Earth 90 to 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, when the region was wetter, more forested and much closer to the sea, notes Peter Makovici. They could live up to forty years old, which is a long age for dinosaurs. They presumably preyed on contemporaneous sauropods whose remains were found at the excavation site. Meraxes with a skull full of ridges, grooves, bumps and little horns “Of course he looked very impressive, he looked like a gargoyle”Makovichki explains. “These are traits that are often subject to sexual selection in living animals.”the researcher emphasizes, clarifying that these species used their massive skull as a “billboard” to attract the attention of potential partners.
Source: Le Figaro
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