New species helps explain dinos’ iconic look

Think of a dinosaur and what may come to mind is a large, lumbering animal with four legs, a long neck, a tiny head and tail. Now a new species helps to explain how this iconic dino body shape evolved. The new dinosaur, Aardonyx celestae, belongs to the Sauropodomorpha, a group that includes the ancestors of sauropods — gigantic, four-legged herbivores — but not the sauropods themselves. The largest animals that ever walked the earth were sauropodomorphs.

Read more

Advertisement