WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have actually uncovered fossils of a terrifying feathered dinosaur in northwestern New Mexico that was a quick and nimble predator that might ferret out smaller victim or swarm bigger victim in pack attacks 67 million years earlier.
Reconstruction of Dineobellator notohesperus and other dinosaurs from the Ojo Alamo Formation at the end of the Cretaceous Period in New Mexico, revealing 3 Dineobellator individuals near a water source, with the horned dinosaur Ojoceratops and sauropod dinosaur Alamosaurus in the background, in an illustration released by the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. March 26,2020 Sergey Krasovskiy/Handout through REUTERS
And, judging from a telltale scar on one of its menacing sickle-shaped claws, this Cretaceous Period dinosaur likewise fought with others of its own species.
Researchers on Thursday announced the discovery of Dineobellator notohesperus, a two-legged meat-eater that was fairly small – around 7 feet (2 meters) long and 3 feet (1 meter) high at the hip, weighing 40-50 pounds (