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BFF-22
ARGENTINA-SCIENCE-PALAEONTOLOGY
Dinosaur that defended itself with spiny backbone found in Patagonia
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 5, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A herbivorous dinosaur that fended
off predators with a row of spines running along its back and lived 140
million years ago has been found in Argentine Patagonia.
The discovery of the new species of dicraeosauridae, christened
Bajadasaurus pronuspinax, was revealed in scientific journal Nature.
A reproduction of its spiny neck was exhibited in the Cultural Science
Center in Buenos Aires.
“We believe that the long and sharp spines — very long and thin — on the
neck and back of Bajadasaurus and Amargasaurus cazaui (another
dicraeosauridae) must have been to deter possible predators,” said Pablo
Gallina, an assistant researcher at the state council of scientific and
technical investigations (CONICET) and Maimonides University.
“We think that had they been just bare bone structures or covered only by
skin, they could have been easily broken or fractured with a blow or when
being attacked by other animals,” he added.
“These spines must have been covered by a keratin sheath similar to what
happens in the horns of many mammals.”
Bajadasaurus was a quadruped and part of the wider Sauropod family that
lived from the late Triassic period (around 230 million years ago) until the
end of the late Cretaceous (70 million years ago).
Amargasaurus cazaui lived in the South American continent around 15
million years after Bajadasaurus and both species were found in the Neuquen
province around 1,120 miles (1,800 kilometers) south of Buenos Aires.
It’s the same zone in which Giganotosaurus carolinii, considered the
biggest carnivorous dinosaur of all time, was discovered in 1993.
It lived during the late Cretaceous period and could have fed on
Bajadasaurus.
CONICET said in a statement the spines could have been used to regulate
the dinosaur’s temperature or even to render it more sexually attractive to a
potential mate.
It said Bajadasaurus could have had a fleshy hump between the spines that
served a similar role to that of a camel.
The Bajadasaurus skull is the best preserved example of a dicraeosauridae
ever found.
“Studies suggest this animal spent much of its time feeding on ground
plants while its eye sockets, close to the top of its skull, allowed it to
key an eye on what was happening around it,” said CONICET.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1355HRS