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Washington, December 16
About 110 million years ago, along the banks of an ancient lagoon in what is now northeastern Brazil, a Cretaceous Period dinosaur the size of a two-legged chicken made its living by hunting insects and perhaps small vertebrates. like frogs and lizards.
Inside, it was normal, with a skeleton similar to that of many small dinosaurs from the earlier Jurassic Period, scientists said Tuesday. On the outside, it was the opposite.
This dinosaur, called Ubirajara jubatus, possessed a mane of hair-like structures and at the same time presented two completely unique, rigid, ribbon-like features, probably made of keratin, the same substance that makes up hair and nails, which protrude off their shoulders.
“There are a lot of other strange dinosaurs, but this one doesn’t look like any of them,” said paleobiology professor David Martill of the University of Portsmouth in England, who helped lead the study published in the journal Cretaceous Research.
The hair-like structures of Ubirajara appear to be a rudimentary form of feathers called proto-feathers. This was not real hair, an exclusively mammalian feature. Many dinosaurs had feathers.
In fact, birds evolved from tiny feathered dinosaurs about 150 million years ago.
“Probably from a distance it looked hairier than feathery,” Martill said.
“It is likely that it had hair-like proto-feathers on much of its body, but they are only preserved along the neck, back and arms. The back ones are very long and give it a kind of mane unique to dinosaurs. “. Ubirajara’s ribbon-like structures may have been used for display, possibly to attract teammates or intimidate opponents or in male-male rivalry, Martill added. Such displays are often made by male animals, think of the elaborate tail feathers of a peacock, leading Martill to make an “educated guess” that this Ubirajara individual was male.
“The ribbons that seem to come off the shoulders are like nothing I’ve ever seen in nature before,” Martill said.
While it’s impossible to tell from the fossil, Martill said Ubirajara may have been colorful.
“I bet so,” he added. – Reuters
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