Now another team, analyzing what may be the most intact dinosaur mummy discovered yet, report fresh details about the skin
of a hadrosaur nicknamed Dakota, which might have been bigger and moved more quickly than previously thought.
The pelvis and pectoral bones
of the hadrosaur suggest it was an Edmontosaurus, which may have been prey for tyrannosaurs.
Sellers and his team used a laser scanner to create a 3D computer model of the skeleton of an Edmontosaurus, a type
of hadrosaur or «duck - billed» dinosaur, and added virtual muscles to make it move.
Of these, six species would have coexisted at any one time, including two types of ankylosaurs (tank - like armoured dinosaurs), two types
of hadrosaurs (duck - billed dinosaurs), and two types of ceratopsids (horn - faced dinosaurs).
Not exact matches
That layer also contained numerous fossils
of Maiasaura, a type
of large, herbivorous duck - billed dinosaur, or
hadrosaur (SN: 8/9/14, p. 20).
The well - preserved fossil
of a plant - eating
hadrosaur, complete with skin and tendons, was discovered in 1999.
So Schweitzer took a look at the pristine leg bone
of a plant - eating
hadrosaur that had been encased in sandstone for 80 million years.
Dr Albert Prieto - Marquez, Research Associate in the School
of Earth Sciences who co-led the research, said: «Some
of the immensely successful duck - billed
hadrosaurs of the Late Cretaceous might have been eating flowering plants, but their tooth wear patterns, and especially close study
of their coprolites — that's fossil poops — shows they were conifer specialists, designed to crush and digest the oily, tough needles and cones.»
Rhinorex, which translates roughly into «King Nose,» was a plant - eater and a close relative
of other Cretaceous
hadrosaurs like Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus.
Call it the Jimmy Durante
of dinosaurs — a newly discovered
hadrosaur with a truly distinctive nasal profile.
On the basis
of the new information, researchers now estimate that this
hadrosaur could have run roughly 27 miles per hour.
A few years ago, Fassett's colleagues were digging in a fossil - rich area
of New Mexico when they uncovered the four - foot - long fossilized thighbone
of a duck - billed, plant - eating
hadrosaur in a sandstone cliff.
«The sites in Berguedà, Pallars Jussà, Alt Urgell and La Noguera, in Catalonia, have provided proof
of five different groups
of dinosaurs: titanosaurs, ankylosaurids, theropods,
hadrosaurs and rhabdodontids,» explains Àngel Galobart, head
of the Mesozoic research group at the ICP and director
of the Museum
of Conca Dellà in Isona.
However, the scales are large, too large for the typical size
of carnivorous dinosaurs and
hadrosaurs roaming this area 66 million years ago.
(Previous analyses
of fossilized bones also hinted at a growth spurt among
hadrosaur youngsters, the researchers note.)
Although the precise color
of the skin remains unknown, the data confirm previous evidence that the
hadrosaur's skin might have had stripes.
The presence
of juveniles in the herd also strongly hints that these creatures spent their entire lives in the Arctic, the team says;
hadrosaurs of that size wouldn't have had the size or stamina to migrate to and from warmer climates during wintertime, as some scientists have proposed.
Most
of the tracks, made somewhere between 69 million and 72 million years ago, were left by
hadrosaurs, commonly known as duck - billed dinosaurs (the crested creatures in this artist's representation).
A mere 3 %
of the tracks represent juvenile
hadrosaurs, a rarity that strongly suggests the young
of this species experienced a rapid growth spurt and therefore spent only a short time at this vulnerable size, the researchers report online this week in Geology.
The creature, a type
of duck - billed dinosaur or
hadrosaur, was abundant in the region about 70 million years ago.
Based on the shape and structure
of the fossilized tendon discovered by the team, Erickson and Druckenmiller determined that it is from a large ornithopod dinosaur, probably a
hadrosaur.
He and his research team through funding by the National Science Foundation, have found two new dinosaurs in Antarctica including a «Jurassic Park - like» raptor or deinonychosaur in 2003 and a duck - billed dinosaur or
hadrosaur in 1997, both finds added new families
of dinosaurs to the list
of Antarctic dinosaurs.