2023-11-23 18:03:12
MADRID, 23 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The posture of a new species of almost complete fossil dinosaur excavated in Mongolia reveals that curled up to sleep similar to that of modern birds.
With the creature’s head tucked over its limbs and its tail wrapped comfortably around its body, its cozy posture resembled that of modern birds at rest, hinting that these dinosaurs not only looked like birds, but they could also have behaved like them.
Paleontologists excavated the dinosaur’s skull and almost complete skeleton in the Gobi Desert, in the Barun Goyot Formation in Mongolia, and most of the bones were still arranged in the original death pose of the animal, which must have lost its life while I slept, The researchers reported in the journal PLOS ONE.
The animal’s long neck wrapped around the right side of its trunk and its head was pressed against its side, resting on its right knee. The hind limbs were bent underneath and most of the tail curved around the left side of the body.
The authors of the study They identified it as an alvarezsaurid, a type of small theropod (carnivorous bipedal dinosaur) with a long tail and legs and short forelimbs. Alvarezsaurids are part of a larger group of dinosaurs called maniraptorans, which includes birds and bird-like dinosaurs that were their closest relatives.
The new fossil suggests that this sleeping behavior may have been more common than expected among non-avian relatives of early birds, the researchers reported.
NEW SPECIES
The scientists who examined the fossil determined that it was a new species to science and They gave him a fierce name: Jaculinykus yaruui. The genus name comes from Jaculus, a mythical dragon, and onykus, which means claw in ancient Greek, while the species name originates from yaruu, the Mongolian word meaning hasty or swift.
Jaculinykus yaruui lived about 70 million years ago towards the end of the Cretaceous period (between 145 and 66 million years ago) and would have measured just over 3 feet (1 meter) long from nose to tip of tail, said the study’s lead author and paleontologist. Kohta Kubo, a PhD candidate in the Paleobiology Research Group at Hokkaido University in Japan.
“This specimen was considered a partial skeleton when it was discovered, but after preparation, it represents an almost complete and articulated skeleton that preserves its life posture,” Kubo told CNN. “It is the first definitive record of this posture in alvarezsaurs, as well as in early branching maniraptoran dinosaurs.”
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