Imagine: it's 110 million years ago. Humans don't exist yet. And you, you're a dimwitted, hungry raptor on the prowl for a meal. Unfortunately, there's precious few potential small prey in your desolate habitat. But this is your lucky day. Wandering around, you notice a little scrap of something worth nibbling on. As you snap and crackle a few twigs of bone, you hear rumbling. You're hungry, you ignore it. It starts to become deafening. Is something clomping towards you? You can't stop eating, but you finally peel away from snacking for an instant. And this happens:
Unfortunately, you have just encountered a Brontomerus mcintoshi, deemed by scientists "Thunder Thighs" for obvious reasons. Courtesy of research in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, humanity now has a new dinosaur to endlessly debate. The Brontomerus, which is described as "rather larger than the biggest modern elephants" is part of a family of dinosaurs formally known as "long-necks." It existed, as stated earlier, 110 million years ago, was discovered in Utah and it appears to look like either a brontosaurus from Land Before Time or a giant rhino with a swan's neck.
In the video below, the authors discuss the process of initial discovery and identifying/piecing together the dinosaur bones.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
.