The final chapter of dinosaur history is a story spread across two very different worlds, each with a huge supernatant dominated by its own unique blend of predators and vegetarians.
In one of the two main people of the land, the remains of a common plant eater have been unexpectedly found in the rocks of another.
“It was completely out of place, like finding a kangaroo in Scotland,” says Nicholas Longrich, a paleontologist at the University of Bath, who led a study on the latest discovery.
This ‘out-of-place’ kangaroo was in fact a new classified type of crest duckbild browser known as a hydrosorid (definitely a lambos ur rin variety).
About a million 66 million years ago, the Cretaceous period was approaching catastrophe, with many different species of hydrosaurs being the most common among vegetarian dinosaurs.
At the very least, it was on the supercontinent Laurasia – a group that would later divide North America, Europe and most of Asia.
Across the ocean, a separate land called Gondwana was ruled by a variety of long-term, lattice sapods.
Remains of these giants are commonly found in places such as Africa, India, Australia, Australia and South America.
Hollywood seems to be able to blend the two groups together, across the continents and in the long run the Cretaceous, the vast stretch of water between the duck-beel and the long structure, will only likely merge into separate regions, as is Europe today.
This new member of the Hadrosaurid family may be just a new exception.
Based on a few jaw fragments and a few teeth extracted from a phosphate mine in Morocco, the discovery is evidence that at least one of these animals may have wandered away from Laurasia more than likely.
Remains of stranger jaws and teeth. (Longrich et al., Cretaceous Research, 2020)
Well, maybe not wandering, so chappu.
“Going to Africa was impossible,” says Longrich.
“These dinosaurs evolved long after the continents split, and we have no evidence of land bridges. Geology states that Africa was separate from the oceans. If so, the only way to get there is through water.”
Find the late Cretaceous hydrosor in Europe and Africa, numbered in number with Ajnabia. (Longrich, et al., Cretaceous Research, 2020)
The idea doesn’t seem as good as it first seems. Hydrosor looks perfect at home close to the aquatic environment and comes in all shapes and sizes. Some are up to 15 meters (45 feet) long, with large tails and powerful legs capable of making competent swimmers.
On petite (feet feet) long petite, this hydrosor may have had a little more difficulty building a marathon that could have included hundreds of kilometers of open water.
But the principles of small animals quickly crossing the oceans on floating rafts of vegetation – why not relatively small dinosaurs?
“Events that occur once in a century are likely to happen many times over. Ocean crossings are needed to explain how lemurs and hippos reached Madagascar, or how monkeys and rats crossed from Africa to South America.”
By combining the Arabic word for foreign word with the famous Greek beach name, scientists have dubbed the hydrosor Stranger Odysseus.
The same assembly that contains Strangers The jaw has left some rare dinosaur bones, including the tattooed gondola staples and carnivorous theropods.
It may not be enough to imagine the split between the Cretaceous supercontinents in the moments before everything changed in the asteroid. But that should give us enough break to claim that the ocean will be an inevitable obstacle.
“As far as I know, we’re the first people to suggest a sea crossing for dinosaurs,” Longrich says.
This research was published Cretaceous Research.
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