It’s an exciting day for science, because paleontologists in Argentina have dug up something absolutely remarkable!
According to a report released today by Princeton University, a research team unearthed a 60-foot-long fossil of a newly discovered species of dinosaur that lived 78 million years ago and was composed of a single bone!
“Based on our study of the preserved specimen, we can determine that this creature had no skull, no ribs, and no legs,” said researcher Steven Brentwood, whose team made the discovery. “It was unable to walk, swim, or fly, but rather moved around by rolling from place to place.”
Coolest dinosaur ever? A paleoartist has reconstructed what this awesome beast would have looked like when alive:
Incredible!
According to Brentwood, the nearly immobile 20-ton dinosaur was an easy target for hungry predators such as Carnotaurus, the Argentinian T-Rex, but having one bone proved a successful defense mechanism.
“Swallowing any part of it was impossible,” said Brentwood. “It was essentially like trying to eat a big log.”
Unfortunately, this incredible defense mechanism came at the cost of side effects that led to the species’ early extinction.
“Even the slightest amount of rain was capable of drowning these creatures,” said Brentwood. “Beyond that, they’d often wind up getting trapped in valleys or at the bottoms of hills. Reproduction was difficult, because even if they survived mating, they rolled over their own eggs.”
“We believe the specific creature we found died of starvation, because these dinosaurs were only able to catch prey that walked into their mouths,” added Brentwood.
Incredible! We can’t wait to learn more about our new favorite prehistoric beast!
