Newly discovered dinosaur like a tiny T-Rex
QMI Agency
First posted: Thursday, March 13, 2014 11:15 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, March 13, 2014 12:02 PM EDT
A U.S. researcher says a newly discovered dinosaur used to roam the Arctic 70 million years ago.
The Nanuqsaurus hoglundi is a smaller cousin to the T-Rex and lived on the North Slope of Alaska, researcher Anthony Fiorillo wrote in the journal PLOS One.
Fiorillo, who works at the Perot Museum in Dallas, Texas, with fellow researcher Ronald Tykoski, said the dinosaur weighed about half a tonne and was half the length of a T-Rex.
The skull fragments that were located in Alaska were initially thought to be a relative of the Albertosaurus, but were later determined to be part of the Tyrannosaurus family.
While the climate was relatively warm during the Late Maastrichtian Age, it was likely long days of seasonal darkness and the limited food resources of the North that caused them to be smaller, the researchers said.
An illustration of the newly discovered Nanuqsaurus dinosaur. (Perot Museum of Nature and Science/Handout)
Newly discovered dinosaur like a tiny T-Rex | World | News | Toronto Sun
QMI Agency
First posted: Thursday, March 13, 2014 11:15 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, March 13, 2014 12:02 PM EDT
A U.S. researcher says a newly discovered dinosaur used to roam the Arctic 70 million years ago.
The Nanuqsaurus hoglundi is a smaller cousin to the T-Rex and lived on the North Slope of Alaska, researcher Anthony Fiorillo wrote in the journal PLOS One.
Fiorillo, who works at the Perot Museum in Dallas, Texas, with fellow researcher Ronald Tykoski, said the dinosaur weighed about half a tonne and was half the length of a T-Rex.
The skull fragments that were located in Alaska were initially thought to be a relative of the Albertosaurus, but were later determined to be part of the Tyrannosaurus family.
While the climate was relatively warm during the Late Maastrichtian Age, it was likely long days of seasonal darkness and the limited food resources of the North that caused them to be smaller, the researchers said.
An illustration of the newly discovered Nanuqsaurus dinosaur. (Perot Museum of Nature and Science/Handout)
Newly discovered dinosaur like a tiny T-Rex | World | News | Toronto Sun
