Majungasaurus also had strange teeth, and it s diet was even stranger. Masiakasaurus, meaning “vicious lizard,” was a small predator with curious teeth in the front of its mouth that pointed directly forward, which likely helped as it captured and ate fish and other small animals. We now know that Austroraptor was one of the largest known dromaeosaurs.Īround the same time during the Late Cretaceous, Masiakasaurus knopfleri and Majungasaurus crenatissimus were hunting in Madagascar. A single fragmented skeleton of Austroraptor was found in the Allen Formation in Argentina in 2008, and, in the years since, several more partial skeleton discoveries have added to our knowledge of this animal. Unlike most other dromaeosaurs, it possessed a low, long, beak-like snout with sharp conical teeth, and also had remarkably short forearms. This is the same family that includes the well-known Velociraptor, but Austroraptor has some unique features that set it apart from the rest. This birdlike “raptor” (loosely used in this case because the term typically refers to extant birds, not extinct creatures) belongs to the family Dromaeosauridae. However, living as recently as 70 million years ago, Austroraptor cabazai may have been around to witness the disaster. Dinosaurs roamed the Earth for millions of years before the infamous asteroid caused a mass extinction of non-avian creatures, but by the time that extinction occurred, many species of dinosaurs had already ceased to exist. And now we’re going back in time to learn more about them. Many of these Gondwanan dinosaurs were discovered in Argentina, though some have been found in Madagascar, Niger, and other Southern Hemisphere locales. Due to genetic divergence, some of the species on this continent grew to be much bigger than their counterparts in Laurasia (the supercontinent opposite Gondwana in the Northern Hemisphere).Īs researchers excavated the lands that made up Gondwana-including South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and the southeastern reaches of Asia, including India-they unearthed evidence of fascinating prehistoric life, including some of the dinosaurs featured in the Museum’s newest exhibit, Ultimate Dinosaurs. This region, which we call Gondwana (or Gondwanaland), was home to some interesting and diverse creatures. One was a giant landmass located in the Southern Hemisphere. First, Pangea broke into two smaller supercontinents. But this process happened slowly, over a period of millions of years. It’s one of the last supercontinents to have existed before the Earth’s crust broke into the seven continents we know today. To answer that question, we have to go all the way back to the late Paleozoic Era, when Earth consisted of just one supercontinent-Pangea. If you thought the herbivores of Gondwana were fascinating, wait until you learn about their carnivorous counterparts! With adaptations that were perfect for ripping, tearing, eating, and digesting other animals, these dinosaurs were some of the biggest and baddest ever to have lived.
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