Bird-like dinosaur sank into the swamp.
Paleontologists have discovered a swamp in the remains of an unknown species of dinosaur. The once boggy mud of the swamp has preserved the pose of the lizard, desperately trying to get out of it.
On the finding, the researchers reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
A new species of dinosaur got the name Tongtianlong limosus – “dirty dragon on the way to heaven.” This name fully reflects the find as a stone, which has turned the swamp, saved the scattered position of the forelimbs and the neck of the animal, stretched for one last SIP of air.
According to researchers, the dinosaur died about 66 to 72 million years ago, and acidic swamps, almost devoid of oxygen, allowed the remains to be preserved surprisingly well. Scientists took a two-legged lizard to the suborder of oviraptorosaurs close to the ancestors of birds: they were covered with feathers, lack teeth and use a sharp beak.
As with some other dinosaurs in this group, the “dirty dragon” had bone growth on the head – perhaps, like some modern birds (like cassowaries), he helped to attract females.
