Scientists in Chile’s Patagonia region have discovered the southernmost dinosaur fossils recorded outside of Antarctica.Fossils contain the remains of a Megaraptor that would have dominated the local food chain before mass extinction.
Megaraptor is a carnivorous dinosaur that lived in parts of South America during the Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago. According to the Journal of South American Earth Science, the fossils were found in sizes up to 10 meters long.
Marcelo Reppe is Director of the Chilean Institute for Antarctic Research (INACH). “It was missing a piece,” he said Reuters“We knew where the big mammalianThere may also be larger carnivores, but we haven’t found them yet.”
Fossils were found from 2016 to 2020 in the Rio de las Chinas Valley in the Magallanes Basin, the southernmost tip of Chile. Scientists have also found rare fossils of Wenlagia, a Velociraptor-like dinosaur that appears to be covered in feathers.
According to University of Chile researcher Jared Amdeo, the fossil had several properties not found in similar fossils found in Argentina and Brazil.
“It may be new Raceor very likely belong to another family of closely related dinosaurs,” he said. He added that more evidence is needed.
The study also provides more information on the circumstances of meteorite impacts on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. That meteorite may have wiped out the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
Reppe noted that temperatures have dropped significantly in what is now Patagonia, and extreme cold waves will last for thousands of years. However, the climate was very mild during most of the Cretaceous period.
“This world was already in danger before[the meteorite]and this is evidenced by the rocks of the Rio de las Chinas Valley,” he said.
I’m Dan Novak.
Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on a Reuters report.
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the words of this story
extinction —n. A state or situation that occurs when something completely disappears
mammalian —n. A type of animal that suckles its young and usually covers most of its skin with hair or fur
Race —n. A group of animals or plants that are similar and can give rise to young animals or plants
