Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Fossil Hunters in Romania Find a 2-Clawed Relative of Velociraptor

Nothing quite like it, a dinosaur with two sicklelike claws on each foot, was known to live in the final period of the age of great reptiles. Little wonder fossil hunters in Romania were astonished when they unearthed remains of a distant relative of Velociraptor, the familiar single-claw predator of fierce repute, and saw its unusual stocky limbs and double-clawed feet.

The discoverers reported on Monday that the dinosaur, the size of a gigantic turkey, was a meat-eating creature that lived more than 65 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period. They named it Balaur bondoc, which means “stocky dragon.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/science/31dino.html?ref=endangeredandextinctspecies

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