See that weird hunchbacked dinosaur up there? That’s a new species, called the Concavenator corcovatus, or the hunchbacked hunter from Cuenca. Why is he a noteworthy discovery, besides his massive size for a carnivore, the fact that he’s a new kid on the dinosaur block, and the massive hump? Well, Concavenator is the largest dinosaur yet that shows bird-like characteristics, which suggests that dinosaurs were all fairly closely related to birds. He’s a giant, meat-hungry missing link!
“One of the unique characteristics of Concavenator, unknown in any other dinosaur yet discovered, is the particular elongation of the last two vertebrae in front of the hip area that project their neural spines on the back of the animal, forming a kind of hump whose function is so far unknown,” said biology researcher Francisco Ortega, who was on the team that discovered the dino. His other big surprise is his quill bumps, or forearm knots that hold feathers, which is a common feature among birds. “This feature was also recognized in some small dinosaurs, very closely related to birds, such as Velociraptor. Surprisingly, Concavenator, four times larger than Velociraptor, and a priori too primitive to have feathers, also has these little bumps.”
Basically, what we have here is a giant prehistoric ostrich, except it could eat people whereas the ostrich prefers to flee from people.
Tags: dinosaurs, new dinosaur species discovered, new dinosaurs, bird-like dinosaur, missing link between dinosaurs and birds, Cuenca, Spain, Concavenator corcovatus, Francisco Ortega, quill knobs, giant carnivore with bird-like features, the hunchbacked hunter from Cuenca
