New Herbivorous Dinosaur Species Discovered.
Published: 19th Apr 2017
A group of scientists and researchers from the Brigham Young University in the US have discovered a new species of dinosaur. Believed to of lived 125 million years ago, this species called Moabosaurus Utahensis belongs to the group of herbivores knows as sauropods. This grouping includes dinosaurs like the Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus, who similarly had long necks and large bodies.
The discovery of this dinosaur has taken about four decades starting in 1976. Palaeontologists assembled information from thousands of bones found on the site in Utah. Piecing bones together from 18 different dinosaurs they were able to form a complete skeleton.
One of the reasons it took so long to assemble the dinosaur was due to the state of the found fossils. Through their study, they found that a large number of Moabosaurua and other dinosaurs who lived in the are died due to a severe drought. Survivors crushed their bones and then streams eroded the land moving the bones. Then most likely the bones were on again.
BYU video showcasing their newest discovery the Moabosurus.
Brooks Britt the papers lead author shared, "We are lucky to get anything out of this site. Most bones we find are fragmentary, so only a small percentage of them are usable…And that is why it took so long to get this animal put together: we had to collect huge numbers of bones in order to get enough that were complete."
You can read more about the Moabosaurus here: