1
T. Rex had a cousin. Imagine the family BBQs...
03 April 2011
He's called Zhuchengtyrannus magnus, but I bet that gets condensed to something more like Z. Mag when people start taking about him. He's the latest fossil find to come from China - an 11-metre-long, 4-metre-tall theropod weighing in at 6 tonnes. That's pretty close to the size of T. Rex, his huge carnivorous cousin. Imagine the fun those two would have at family reunions.
Any new fossil is exciting news, but another big carnosaur from the late Cretaceous like this one is really headline stuff. There just aren't a lot of top-of-the-food-chain fossils and coming across one is like winning the lottery.
I know what you're thinking. "How do we know this big guy wasn't just a Tyrannosaurus on tour of what would become China, 65 million years later?" Well, according to this article in Science Daily, scientists have identified several unique physiological difference in his skull. And since only skull and jaw bones have been found so far, there may be more surprises waiting when other bones are uncovered.
Who says paleontology is dull?
Oh yeah: no one really knows if the remains of most dinosaurs are male or female. It might be that females were the bigger of the species. Unless you find them with eggs inside, you can't say for sure. But paleontologists are a smart bunch and they'll probably find indicators to determine sex more clearly before long. After all, they're already decoding dinosaur colours.
Any new fossil is exciting news, but another big carnosaur from the late Cretaceous like this one is really headline stuff. There just aren't a lot of top-of-the-food-chain fossils and coming across one is like winning the lottery.
I know what you're thinking. "How do we know this big guy wasn't just a Tyrannosaurus on tour of what would become China, 65 million years later?" Well, according to this article in Science Daily, scientists have identified several unique physiological difference in his skull. And since only skull and jaw bones have been found so far, there may be more surprises waiting when other bones are uncovered.
Who says paleontology is dull?
Oh yeah: no one really knows if the remains of most dinosaurs are male or female. It might be that females were the bigger of the species. Unless you find them with eggs inside, you can't say for sure. But paleontologists are a smart bunch and they'll probably find indicators to determine sex more clearly before long. After all, they're already decoding dinosaur colours.
