North America's Biggest Dinosaur Unearthed in New Mexico

North America's Biggest Dinosaur Unearthed in New Mexico - North America's biggest dinosaur has been unearthed. And it looks like it once called New Mexico home.

The revelation of the massive titanosaurus was documented in a recent issue of Acta Palaeontologica Polonica published on Dec. 6. Co-authors Denver Fowler, a researcher from Montana State University, and Robert M. Sullivan, senior curator of paleontology and geology at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg describe their discovery of an enormous vertebra from a sauropod dinosaur known as Alamosaurus sanjuanensis.

Nate Carroll, left, and Liz Freedman, a doctoral student in Jack Horner's paleontology laboratory, pose with the complete reconstruction of the neck vertebra of an Alamosaurus

A cousin of the Diplodocus, the Alamosaurus habited the New Mexico region about 69 million years ago.

"When we got back to camp, we started thinking: How did this compare to the biggest specimens from South America?" Fowler told FoxNews.com. "This was so much bigger than the other material of Alamosaurus that had been found up to this time."

Fowler and Sullivan stumbled upon the bones during a dig in the New Mexico desert back in 2004. At first, no digging was necessary since the rock had eroded away enough to expose the bones to the air.

But after the full bone had been freed, Fowler said the trip back to the truck was the hardest part of the entire process.

"There was only two of us out there, and it was about 1.2 miles," Fowler told FoxNews.com. "It was pretty flat terrain, so it wasn't too difficult once we got to the top of the hill where it was exposed. But it was so heavy, and it was usually over 100 Fahrenheit. They say it's a dry heat, but it's always in direct sunlight."

"Dinosaurs never die in the shade," Fowler added.

The Alamosaurus vertebra that Fowler and Sullivan found puts the dinosaur in the same category as other Titanosaurus sauropods discovered in South America – the Argentinosaurus and the Puertasaurus which both could weigh up to 80 – 100 metric tons. Fowler says that the Alamosaurus they discovered could potentially be the same size.

"This is a neck vertebra and the only neck vertebrae of Alamosaurus that have been described are actually quite small individuals from Texas," Fowler told FoxNews.com. "One of the measurements we can take from it is the width of the condyles of the back end of the vertebra. We have a width of about 50 cm for that."

"Argnetinasaurus is certainly known from very fragmentary remains." Fowler continued. "They have a backbone from the middle of the back - the dorsal series we call it. And that's the same sort of 50 cm width."

With the discovery of such a large specimen, new questions have emerged as to the behavior of sauropods in North America. These dinosaurs are found primarily in the south, only getting as far north as Utah, leading Fowler and other researchers to wonder about their preferred environment.

"Maybe they didn't like the environment up there," Fowler told FoxNews.com. "Perhaps they actually emigrated in from South America during this time, and maybe they just haven’t got as far north quite yet. So we can start to ask questions like that. The more material we find the more comparisons we can make."

And Fowler is eager to make more comparisons. Now that the Alamosaurus's size has been confirmed and documented, Fowler is ready to get back out to the desert to see what else is out there. But he’s hoping he can have a bit more people with him.

"We only usually have two or three people out there, so there's a limit to how much you can collect," Fowler told FoxNews.com. "It would be great to go back to the site where the actual bone was found cause there may well be more of that large individual at that site."

"We'd have to dig and get permission, but it’s pretty exciting to think there might be more there." ( foxnews.com )

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Teeth study shows big dinosaurs trekked for food

Teeth study shows big dinosaurs trekked for food — What did giant plant-munching dinosaurs do when they couldn't find enough to eat in the parched American West? They hit the road. An analysis of fossilized teeth adds further evidence that the long-necked dinosaurs called sauropods — the largest land creatures — went on road trips to fill their gargantuan appetites.

Scientists have long theorized that sauropods foraged for precious resources during droughts because of their preserved tracks and long limbs that were "ideal moving machines" and allowed them to cover long distances, said paleobiologist Matthew Bonnan of Western Illinois University.

The latest study is the best evidence yet that at least one kind of sauropod "took to the hills in search of food when times got tough in the lowlands," said paleontologist Kristi Curry Rogers at Macalester College in Minnesota.

An undated photo released by Henry Fricke shows a sampling of dinosaur teeth from the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. Scientists analyzing 32 teeth of plant-eating dinosaurs found that they migrated from the lowlands to highlands in search of food and water during the late Jurassic period. A new study suggests long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs migrated hundreds of miles to find enough food for their gargantuan appetites. (AP Photo/ Henry Fricke,/Colorado College)

The new work, published online Wednesday by the journal Nature, was led by geologist Henry Fricke of Colorado College.

The researchers analyzed 32 sauropod teeth collected in Wyoming and Utah. The teeth came from massive plant-eaters that roamed a semi-arid basin in the American West during the late Jurassic period about 150 million years ago.

The largest sauropods weighed 100 tons and were 120 feet long. The type in the study was smaller — about 60 feet in length and weighing 25 tons.

Scientists can get a glimpse into the source of the dinosaurs' drinking water by comparing the oxygen preserved in the tooth enamel to that found in ancient sediment.

A chemical analysis showed differences in the teeth and the basin where the dinosaurs were buried, meaning they must have wandered hundreds of miles from the flood plains to the highlands for food and water.

Fricke said the movement appeared to be tied to changing seasons. Sauropods left the basin in the summer for higher elevations — a trek that took about five months — and returned in the winter.

In lush times, sauropods would have feasted on a diversity of plants including ferns, horsetails, conifers and moss, said John Foster, a curator at the Museum of Western Colorado, who had no part in the research. ( Associated Press )

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Raptor-like dinosaur discovered in eastern Utah

Raptor-like dinosaur discovered in eastern Utah - A small, feathered raptor-like dinosaur thought to be 125 million years old has been discovered in eastern Utah, scientists announced Thursday.

The Geminiraptor suarezarum was bipedal and, like other raptors, had a large head. Most of the known raptors discovered in North America date to between 72 million and 75 million years ago, which makes the discovery the oldest reported specimen of its kind.

"They were fast, they were smart, they had big eyes and very dexterous hands," said James Kirkland, a paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey.

Houston Museum of Natural Science Visiting Curator of Paleontology Robert Bakker, Ph.D. works during the museum's paleontologist team field expedition to excavate a nearly complete Dimetrodon fossil at the Craddock Ranch on Dec. 11, 2010, in Seymour, Texas

In this photo taken on Dec. 12, 2010, Dimetrodon fossil is shown during a Houston Museum of Natural Science paleontologist team field expedition to excavate a nearly complete Dimetrodon fossil at the Craddock Ranch in Seymour, Texas

It was the eighth new species of dinosaurs discovered in Utah this year. Seven of those were found on federal land.

The G. suarezarum was discovered on federal land near Green River, an area about 180 miles southeast of Salt Lake City that has become notable for the number of new species discovered there. The College of Eastern Utah's Prehistoric Museum in Price is curating the bones and overseeing the excavation of the quarry where the bones were found.

The quarry was found seven years ago by identical twins Celina and Marina Suarez of San Antonio, Texas, for whom the new species was named. The 29-year-old paleontologists were helping Kirkland excavate a different quarry just over a mile away.

The quarry, now called "Suarez Sister's Quarry," has since yielded two dinosaur discoveries. Kirkland said that they are also studying bones that may prove to be a third new dinosaur.

"We both knew it would be significant," Celina Suarez said. "But we never thought it would have this much."

Having a dinosaur named after them is unbelievable, she said.

"As kids, we always kind of thought we might dig up a dinosaur in our backyard," she said. "We didn't know we would have to drive to Utah to do it."

Kirkland said that honoring the sisters reflected not only their discovery of the quarry, but also their passion for paleontology.

"They are two whimsical pixies, always smiling," Kirkland said. "They should have their own kids TV show." ( Associated Press )

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Oldest T Rex relative discovered in London

Dinosaur dynasty: Oldest T Rex relative discovered in London. Remains of the oldest-known relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex have been discovered, more than 100 years after being pulled out of a Gloucestershire reservoir.

The near-complete 11inch skull has been identified as a 165-million-year-old ancestor of the fearsome dinoaur, called Proceratosaurus.

It was unearthed in the vast collection of London's Natural History Museum, according to research published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society today.

The fossil skull of Proceratosaurus the oldest-known relative of T.rex, which lived 165 million years ago

Proceratosaurus was probably only around 9ft long and lived 100 million years earlier that the 40ft long T- Rex. This gives scientists important clues about the early stages of the evolution of these fearsome predators.

A team of British and German scientists used computed tomography (CT) techniques to generate X-rays and then a 3D image of the delicate skull remains. This meant they could study its internal structure in minute detail.

They found that its teeth, jaws and braincase all closely resemble the structures found in the gigantic predator.

‘It was quite a surprise when our analysis showed we had the oldest known relative of T.rex,’ said Museum dinosaur expert, Dr Angela Milner.

‘We care for over nine million fossils here at the Museum and this discovery highlights the importance of museum collections in current and future research. Fossils collected a century ago can now be studied again with the benefit of much greater knowledge of dinosaurs from around the world.’

Tyrannosaurus rex grew up to 40ft long, while its ancestor grew to 9ft

Some of the bones were still covered in rock and had to be carefully cleaned before the skull could be fully examined.

‘This is a very fragile skull,’ says Museum fossil expert, Scott More-Fay, ‘so removing the rock, especially from around the teeth, was a delicate and time-consuming task that had to be done under a microscope, using very fine tools.’

The skull was uncovered during excavations for a reservoir close to Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire. In 1910, it was described as a new species of Megalosaurus.

The fossil was presented to the Natural History Museum in 1922 by F L Bradley, but its links to the most famous dinosaur family of all remained undiscovered until now.

Tyrannosaurus rex lived around 67 to 65 million years ago at the end of the dinosaur era in the Cretaceous period, and is a member of a larger group, called Tyrannosauroidea, after its most famous member.

Dr Oliver Rauhut from the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology in Munich said: ‘This is still one of the best-preserved dinosaur skulls found in Europe. It is really surprising that it has received so little attention since its original description.’

And, there are many possibilities to discover and identify new species using techniques such as CT modelling, as Dr Rauhut explains: ‘I’m sure that many more tyrannosaurs are still out there to be found. I think we have just scratched the tip of the iceberg so far.’ dailymail

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