Newly uncovered dinosaur had longest horns of all
WASHINGTON, May 29, 2010 (AFP) - A group of US paleontologists said
Friday it has unearthed a new species of dinosaurs standing some six
feet tall and weighing up to 4.5 tonnes, with the longest horns of all.
The 72-million-year-old herbivore, now named Coahuilaceratops
magnacuerna, has two large horns above its eyes measuring up to an
impressive four feet (1.22 meters) long - the largest of any other
species, providing fresh insight into the history of western North
America.
Scientists uncovered fossils belonging to both an adult and a
juvenile of the rhino-sized tubby creature at the Cerro del Pueblo
Formation in Coahuila, Mexico. It measured about 22 feet (6.7 meters)
long as an adult, standing six to seven feet (1.8 to two meters) tall at
the shoulder and hips.
"We know very little about the dinosaurs of Mexico, and this find
increases immeasurably our knowledge of the dinosaurs living in Mexico
during the Late Cretaceous," said the study's lead author Mark Loewen, a
paleontologist with the Utah Museum of Natural History.His team is to
release a book next week detailing the find, which took place during
expeditions in 2002 and 2003 in the Coahuila desert. The study was
funded by the National Geographic Society and the University of
Utah.When dinosaurs lived in this corner of Mexico, it was a lush, humid
estuary where ocean water mixed with fresh water from rivers, similar to
the US Gulf Coast today.Many dinosaur bones unearthed in the area are
covered with fossilized snails and marine clams, indicating that the
creatures lived close to the seashore.The rocks in which the
paleontologists found Coahuilaceratops contained large fossil deposits
of jumbled duck-bill dinosaur skeletons.
According to the scientists, the dinosaurs likely died en masse in
the area due to storms similar to present-day hurricanes.During most of
the Late Cretaceous Period, 97 to 65 million years ago, high global sea
levels led to flooding of the central, low-lying portion of North
America. Ultimately, a warm, shallow sea emerged, stretching from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean and splitting the continent into
eastern and western landmasses.
"We are confident that Mexican dinosaurs will be a critical element
in unravelling the ancient mystery of this island continent," said Scott
Sampson of the Utah Museum of Natural History.
|