By putting together parts of old fossils with some recently found ones, scientists have named a new species of dinosaur. This particular species is a pachycephalosaur, which is a bone-headed dinosaur and has the scientific name Acrotholus audeti. These remains were discovered near Alberta Canada. The dinosaur is thought to have been about six feet long and weigh 40 kilograms. It was also a herbivore. This could possibly be the oldest bone-headed dinosaur in the world. For scientists, this discovery will provide more information about the diversity of these types of dinosaurs. It predicted that there are several more similar species that have not been discovered yet.
I admire all of the work the scientists put in to discover this species. It is amazing how much you can figure out about organisms that went extinct millions of years ago. It will be exciting to see what other new discoveries like this scientists will make in the near future.
NOS Themes:
Science is based on evidence: The fossils were the evidence the scientists based their conclusions on.
Role of chance: The fossils just happened to be found.
Role of motivation and curiousity: The scientists were curious about these ancient species.
Link to article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130507124800.htm
Further Reading: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419132406.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090512134657.htm
I admire all of the work the scientists put in to discover this species. It is amazing how much you can figure out about organisms that went extinct millions of years ago. It will be exciting to see what other new discoveries like this scientists will make in the near future.
NOS Themes:
Science is based on evidence: The fossils were the evidence the scientists based their conclusions on.
Role of chance: The fossils just happened to be found.
Role of motivation and curiousity: The scientists were curious about these ancient species.
Link to article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130507124800.htm
Further Reading: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419132406.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090512134657.htm
It's super cool that they found a new dinosaur, especially such a little one. Even though there are many kinds of reptiles and small mammals in today's ecosystem, they don't find many fossils of small dinosaurs. Scientists don't know if this because there was actually less small dinosaurs, or if there are just less fossils because small bones are destroyed by carnivores and natural decay easier. This is an ongoing debate that hopefully the discovery of these new bones will help to settle.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to the article I read:
http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/article01059.html
I agree that it's really interesting how scientists found a new dinosaur species. It only makes you wonder how many more species are still left to be uncovered. The world is a big place and humans are thought to only have discovered a mere portion of the species actually living on earth. I read an article that said scientists uncover 15,000 new species every year. Estimates conclude that there could be well over 30million species still waiting to be discovered. I wonder what could be lurking in our oceans or forests. Hopefully there are plants out there with potential medical use.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/science/30species.html?_r=0
When I saw your post it got me interested in the other recent dinosaurs people have discovers. I found this article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121003-new-dinosaur-species-fanged-sereno-science/ that discusses the two foot, fanged dwarf dinosaur scientists have discovered. They call it Pegomastax africanus. The species would had lived along rivers in south Africa around the time the super continent Pangaea had just begun to split. It looks similar to a porcupine, but after much observation, the scientist realized that the mouth is very similar the fanged deer. This dinosaur could be an example of natural selection whose population over time evolved into the fanged deer we now have today.
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