Posted on 03/31/2005 4:07:00 PM PST by nickcarraway
BUENOS AIRES -- Remains of a new species of dinosaur, christened 'bonitasaura', were discovered in southern Argentina after scientists were led to them by a 98-year-old woman, who said that she was aware of the bones since her childhood.
Scientists were taken to the bones of the nine-meter (30 foot) giant, by Filomena Avila, also called Dona Tica, after convincing her that they were not fossil thieves.
"Dona Tica believed we were fossil traffickers and, at first, she lied to us, saying that there are not any bones here," said Sebastian Apesteguia, leader of the paleontologists who made the discovery.
Eventually she led them to the site in the semi-desert Patagonian steppes, where they recovered enough bones to reconstitute 70 percent of the animal's skeleton.
Christened 'bonitasaura salgadoi', after the Bonita Mountains near the discovery site, the dinosaur is a sauropod, a plant-eater related to the brontosaurus, and lived 83 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period. It was classified in the titanosaurids family, all of which have long necks, long tails and small heads.
Its unique characteristic is the sharp ridge that runs behind its teeth, which allows it to sever tree branches without damaging its frontal teeth.
The scientists hypothesize that the bonitasaura, the adults of which reached 20 tons, lived in herds to protect themselves from predators in the region such as the carnotaurus.
The existence of the fossil beds in the general area was known since the 1922 expedition of geologist Walter Shiller and paleontologist Santiago Roth. But the precise location was lost and remained unknown except to Dona Tica, who as a young girl had assisted the early expedition.
Election records show it voted for Kerry in Chicago last year...
"The existence of the fossil beds in the general area was known since the 1922 expedition of geologist Walter Shiller and paleontologist Santiago Roth. But the precise location was lost and remained unknown except to Dona Tica, who as a young girl had assisted the early expedition."
I'm confused. Is this a picture of the 98 year old or the dinosaur?
Now, now, it was probably her pet.
yes.
Lord, how many species could there have been?
The number known seems to have exploded in the years since I was a small boy.
Oh, so this is the 98 year old dinosaur. I've always been amazed that they were able to survive with such tiny little brains.
And was found on the Megan's Law database to boot!
How can this dinosaur be related to the brontosaurus, when the brontosaurus no longer exists as a dinosaur name? (It is now called the apatosaurus.)
Dona knows they are real because she used to take rides on it.
Well, just look at some humans (pick a group of your choice).
When I see the phrase "New dinosaur" in a headline, I assume they're referring to something that existed less than 65 million years ago...
Well, originally she was assisting professional scientists with it. They probably kept some sort of records. How was she supposed to know that the precise location has been lost since 1922?
As someone who used to write headlines, keep in mind, "previously unknown" is much harder to fit in then "new."
Sauropods are the ones that evolved into reptiles, right? As opposed to therapods that evolved into birds?
Running away before the evolution debaters arrive
This topic was posted , thanks nickcarraway.
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