“Dragon Thief” Dinosaur Discovered

Hundreds of million years in the past a dinosaur was running on the coast of Wales and something made him fall to his death and so, in the present day, the Dragon Thief dinosaur was discovered. This is the oldest Jurassic dinosaur that was found so far.

The Dragon thief, or the Dracoraptor Hanigani as the scientists are calling it, is a crucial finding that will help modern day scientists to determine the evolutionary path of the giant reptiles that once roamed the Earth.

Normally, archaeologists discover scattered bones from various dinosaurs and they have to rebuild the skeleton from just a few pieces, but this time, the Dracoraptor Hanigani specimen was 40 percent uncovered. This means that they didn’t find only a few bones, but rather a half of skeleton. This alone is a discovery of major importance.

According to the study, the archaeologists dug out the dragon thief’s skull, teeth and some bones from the feet. Such a skeleton that comes from the early Jurassic can prove crucial for a better understanding of the elements that led to the ending of the Triassic and the beginning of the Jurassic.

According to one of the authors of the study, Mr. Vidovic, the extinction that took place in the period in between the Triassic and the Jurassic is often believed to be the catalyst of the success that dinosaurs had in the later Jurassic and Cretaceous eras.

The Dracoraptor Hanigani that was discovered in Wales has great significance in the process of understanding the key element that leads to the broad diversification of the theropods because it originates from the exact time frame that scientists believe was crucial for the evolution of the dinosaurs.

The Dragon Thief, or Dracoraptor Hanigani, is not a relative of the Velociraptors that the public came to know and love due to the Jurassic Park movies, but apparently it is more related to the other star of prehistoric reptiles, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It most probably had a height of approximately 70 centimeters and a length of 20

0 centimeters.

The most probable diet of the Dracoraptor is a carnivorous one, this being attested by the length and sharpness of its teeth and the slim, aerodynamic construction of its body, which is typical for a carnivorous animal that has to hunt for their food.

The dragon Thief Dinosaur discovered in Wales will help scientists shed some light on the events that led to the flourishing dinosaur population from the late Jurassic and the entire Cretaceous Era.

Image source: www.livescience.com