by Wendy R.

Created on: November 17, 2009   Last Updated: December 09, 2009

Recent dinosaur discoveries

This year there have been many new fascinating dinosaur discoveries. Canadian researchers found what they believed to be the smallest dinosaur in North America. This dinosaur was smaller than a cat and was known as Hesperonychus elizabethae. This small dinosaur is thought to havesurvived by  eating such things as insects and amphibians.

Another recent dinosaur discovery involved finding a miniature version of T. Rex. This tiny dinosaur, discovered recently in China is known as Raptorex kriegsteini, and was about ten feet long and weighed about one hundred fifty pounds. Scientists believe that this smaller version of T. Rex actually roamed earth before its larger counterpart.

Another discovery in China is that of a bird-footed dinosaur. This dinosaur known as Limusaurus inextricabilis showed signs of having a fully developed beak, a reduced first finger and enlarged second finger, making it possible that these dinosaurs were on their way to becoming birds.

Recently in the Gobi desert in Mongolia, paleontologists discovered a three foot long, nut cracking dinosaur. Psittacosaurus gobiensis, as this dinosaur is called, is thought to resemble the modern day Macaw.

In Montana, a husband and wife paleontologist team discovered a nearly intact dinosaur skull. This new species known as Tatankacephalus cooneyorum, was a fifteen to twenty foot plant eater which was covered with protective plates, and had a huge clubbed tail.

Paleontologists found another dinosaur in the Gobi desert, this time Alioramus altai, a dinosaur that they discovered through a cat scan was about nine years old. From the studies they did scientists discovered that the dinosaur was about 85% of the size of an adult dinosaur.

Chinese paleontologists discovered Tianyulong confuciusi, another dinosaur link to birds. This was the first dinosaur to be found to have protrusions on it similar to feathers. This finding helps to solidify the theory that dinosaurs and birds have a similar anchestry.

Chinese and American paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History found a dinosaur that appeared to be part dinosaur part ostrich. Known as Beishanlong grandis, this creature was extremely large with a weight of about fourteen hundred pounds. Even though this dinosaur was huge scientists don't believe that it was fully developed.

In 2008, a very tiny dinosaur, about the size of a chicken was discovered in Alberta Canada. This dinosaur fossil is one of the few found in North America.  An odd shaped dinosaur which ran on two legs and ate termites appears to have had long legs and short stump like arms.

These are a few of the most recent discoveries in dinosaur news. These eight that I have mentioned are not all of the recent discoveries, but are the ones that scientists themselves consider the top eight. I'm sure there are plenty more.

Learn more about this author, Wendy R..
Click here to send this author comments or questions.