Fossilised giant dinosaur unearthed in U.S.
- The fossil remains of a 66 million year old bird-like dinosaur called ‘chicken from hell‘ was recently unearthed from USA. Its features are:
- resembles a beefed-up emu with a long neck
- 1 metre long tail
- a tall crest on its head
- long, sharp claws at the end of its forelimbs.
- stood 1.5 metres high at the hip
- measured more than 3 metres from beak to tail
- it lived on ancient floodplains &fed on plants, small animals & eggs
- an adult weighed up to 300kg.
- The remains were found from mudstone in Hell Creek formation in North & South Dakota, where fossil of Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops were excavated.
- They will be displayed at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
- Its more formal name was Anzu wyliei. Anzu being the name of a giant bird-like demon from ancient Sumerian mythology & Wyliei comes from Wylie J. Tuttle, son of a donor who funds research at the museum.
- This bird belongs to a group oviraptorosaurs, which are mostly known from fossils discovered in central and east Asia but the remains provide the first detailed picture of them in north America.
Exams Perspective:
- Anzu wyliei
- Tyrannosaurus rex