Reconstruction of dinosaur ends fearsome image

Nearly 50 years ago, scientists found bones of two large, powerful dinosaur arms in Mongolia and figured they had discovered a fearsome beast with killer claws.

With the discovery of the rest of the dinosaur, the description has changed to goofy and weird.

Scientists said on Wednesday two almost complete skeletons of the bizarre 70-million-year-old creature, Deinocheirus mirificus (meaning "unusual horrible hand"), show it boasted a combination of unorthodox traits, including the famous arms, never before seen in a single dinosaur.

The beast probably lumbered along on two legs like a cross between TV dinosaur Barney and Jar Jar Binks of Star Wars fame. It was 5 meters tall and 11 meters long, weighed seven tons, with a duckbill on its head and a hump-like sail on its back. Throw in those killer claws, tufts of feathers here and there, and no teeth - and try not to laugh.

It was the largest known member of a group of birdlike dinosaurs called ornithomimosaurs ("ostrich mimics"), the researchers said.

Thriving in a river region, it was an omnivore, eating fish and plants with a beaked, toothless snout that flared out to the sides like the herbivorous duck-billed dinosaurs. It had broad feet with toes ending in squared-off hoofs that may have helped it stand on wet ground.

Deinocheirus had wide hips and moved slowly but was capable of defending itself thanks to its sheer size and its three ripping claws on each hand. It was virtually as big as the apex predator in the neighborhood, Tyrannosaurus Rex's cousin Tarbosaurus.

"Deinocheirus turned out to be one the weirdest dinosaurs beyond our imagination," study lead author Yuong-Nam Lee, director of the Geological Museum in Daejeon, South Korea, said.

"Deinocheirus has remained one of the most mysterious dinosaurs in the world. We found almost (complete) skeletons of Deinocheirus and know now how it looked, how big it was and what it ate," the paleontologist said.

When scientists in 1965 found the first forearm bones - nearly 2.4 meters long - many of them envisioned "a creature that would strike terror in people", said University of Maryland dinosaur expert Thomas Holtz Jr, who wasn't part of the study. "Now it's a creature that would strike bemusement, amazement."

"And yes, it's pretty goofy," he said.

The find is tremendous but is a cautionary tale about jumping to conclusions without enough evidence, said University of Chicago dinosaur expert Paul Sereno, who wasn't part of the discovery.

It also reminds us that evolution isn't always what we think, Sereno said.

"This is evolution in a dinosaur - not a mammal - world," Sereno said.

"The starting point is a two-legged animal looking somewhat like a fuzzy-feathered ostrich. Now you want to get really big and suck up lots of soft vegetation. In the end you look like a goofy Michelin ostrich with fuzz and a tail - not a cow."

Lee figures the tilted wide hips and massive feet show that Deinocheirus was a slow mover and probably grew so big to escape from being regularly feasted on by bigger dinosaurs.

It had a beak that could eat plants, but it also had a massive tongue that created suction for vacuuming up food from the bottoms of streams, lakes and ponds, Lee wrote.

Originally Lee's team couldn't find the dinosaur's skull, but a tip from another researcher led them to recover it from the private market in Germany.

Some kids will soon adopt this dinosaur as their favorite, Holtz said, "and those are kids with a sense of humor".

AFP - Reuters

(China Daily 10/24/2014 page10)