http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040223/newdinos.html
Feb. 27, 2004 ? Two new species of dinosaur, one a meat-eater, the other a plant-eater, have been found in Antarctica, according to the National Science foundation.
Living millions of years apart, the species were found in vastly different locations: one on the sea bottom and one on a mountaintop, according to an NSF press release.
The carnivorous beast, found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, was a member of a group of dinosaurs called theropods, which walk on two legs and include Tyrannosaurus Rex, as well as the velociraptors of "Jurassic Park" movie fame.
Analyzing the creature's lower body bones and teeth fossils led veteran dinosaur hunters Judd Case and James Martin to believe the animal may have belonged to a population of dinosaurs that survived in the Antarctic long after their kind had fallen by the evolutionary wayside elsewhere in the world.
The climate in the Antarctic during the Cretaceous Period, which lasted from 144 million to 65 million years ago, was similar to the Pacific Northwest today.
"One of the surprising things is that animals with these more primitive characteristics generally haven't survived as long elsewhere as they have in Antarctica," said Case, dean of science and a professor of biology at Saint Mary's College of California, in the press release. "But, for whatever reason, they were still hanging out on the Antarctic continent."
Martin, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, said the size and shape of the ends of the lower-leg and foot bones indicate that the animal was stood about 1.8 to 2.4 meters (6 to 8 feet) tall and was a runner.
Only five other dinosaur fossils have been discovered in the James Ross region of the Antarctic Peninsula, the landmass that juts north toward South America.
Plant-Eater
The plant-eater's fossilized pelvis was found at 3,900 meters (13,000 feet) near a glacier. A research team led by William Hammer of Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., believes the animal was an early sauropod similar to the four-legged tree browsing brachiosaurus.
The mountain was once a soft riverbed.
Hammer and his team think the pelvis, measuring about a meter (3 feet) across, represents one of the earliest forms of the sauropods that eventually gave rise to animals over 30 meters (100 feet) long. Estimates of the creature's size were between 1.8 and 2.1 meters (6 and 7 feet) tall and up to 9 meters (30 feet) long.
Dating of the rocks around the fossil put the era at 200 million years ago, millions of year before the carnivorous dinosaur found at lower elevations.
"This site is so far removed geographically from any site near its age, it's clearly a new dinosaur to Antarctica," Hammer said in the press release. "We have so few dinosaur specimens from the whole continent, compared to any other place, that almost anything we find down there is new to science."
The new species have not yet been named.
Feb. 27, 2004 ? Two new species of dinosaur, one a meat-eater, the other a plant-eater, have been found in Antarctica, according to the National Science foundation.
Living millions of years apart, the species were found in vastly different locations: one on the sea bottom and one on a mountaintop, according to an NSF press release.
The carnivorous beast, found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, was a member of a group of dinosaurs called theropods, which walk on two legs and include Tyrannosaurus Rex, as well as the velociraptors of "Jurassic Park" movie fame.
Analyzing the creature's lower body bones and teeth fossils led veteran dinosaur hunters Judd Case and James Martin to believe the animal may have belonged to a population of dinosaurs that survived in the Antarctic long after their kind had fallen by the evolutionary wayside elsewhere in the world.
The climate in the Antarctic during the Cretaceous Period, which lasted from 144 million to 65 million years ago, was similar to the Pacific Northwest today.
"One of the surprising things is that animals with these more primitive characteristics generally haven't survived as long elsewhere as they have in Antarctica," said Case, dean of science and a professor of biology at Saint Mary's College of California, in the press release. "But, for whatever reason, they were still hanging out on the Antarctic continent."
Martin, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, said the size and shape of the ends of the lower-leg and foot bones indicate that the animal was stood about 1.8 to 2.4 meters (6 to 8 feet) tall and was a runner.
Only five other dinosaur fossils have been discovered in the James Ross region of the Antarctic Peninsula, the landmass that juts north toward South America.
Plant-Eater
The plant-eater's fossilized pelvis was found at 3,900 meters (13,000 feet) near a glacier. A research team led by William Hammer of Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., believes the animal was an early sauropod similar to the four-legged tree browsing brachiosaurus.
The mountain was once a soft riverbed.
Hammer and his team think the pelvis, measuring about a meter (3 feet) across, represents one of the earliest forms of the sauropods that eventually gave rise to animals over 30 meters (100 feet) long. Estimates of the creature's size were between 1.8 and 2.1 meters (6 and 7 feet) tall and up to 9 meters (30 feet) long.
Dating of the rocks around the fossil put the era at 200 million years ago, millions of year before the carnivorous dinosaur found at lower elevations.
"This site is so far removed geographically from any site near its age, it's clearly a new dinosaur to Antarctica," Hammer said in the press release. "We have so few dinosaur specimens from the whole continent, compared to any other place, that almost anything we find down there is new to science."
The new species have not yet been named.
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