Paleontologists at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, have announced the discovery of a new dinosaur. The 70-million-year-old dinosaur is the smallest ever found in North America.
Called Albertonykus borealis, the slender bird-like creature was approximately the size of a chicken and is believed to have fed on wood-burrowing termites. The fossil specimens come from two animals and consist solely of the arms and legs.
Like other members of the Alvarezsauridae family, A. borealis is believed to have had a fairly small, stream-lined body with tweezer-like jaws. The dinosaur has been described as something out of a Dr. Seuss book.
A. borealis had very long, slender hind-legs, which probably allowed it to be an agile runner. The front hands were stout with large claws. Paleontologists believed the front hands were used for burrowing and finding insects.
While proportionally the front limbs are even shorter than those of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the arms were powerfully built. Paleontologists hypothesized that A. borealis used its front claws to bury into insect mounds and nests.
The problem was that 70 million years ago, ants and mound-building termites did not exist. This left the possibility that the bird-like creature fed on tree-burrowing termites. Fossilized remains of termite borings in wood discovered in the same vicinity lend credence to this claim, supporting the idea that this dinosaur fed on termites.
The bones of A. borealis were discovered at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park in Alberta in 2002 by a team from the University of Alberta. The bones were stored until they were examined in 2006 by Dr. Nick Longrich at the University of Calgary.
The research is detailed in the August issue of the journal Cretaceous Research.
