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Orodromeus, a close relative of the burrowing Oryctodromeus, whose image is not yet available for free.: We may be sciencey, but we're also cheap. Image of Orodromeus by Arthur Weasley, found at Wikipedia.
A burro is an ass. A burrow is a hole in the ground. Now, thanks to a discovery in Montana, paleontologists will be expected to know the difference.
Researchers have uncovered indisputable proof that some dinosaurs dug burrows. First, they found a six-foot long tube of sandstone embedded in rock. They theorized that the surrounding rock was once dirt, and the tube was a burrow that had been filled in by other material, probably washed in by a flood.
They then began excavating the tube, and found the remains of an adult dinosaur and two juveniles. The dinosaur, a new species they named Oryctodromeus cubicularis (Greek for "digging runner of the lair”), would have stood about knee-high to an adult human. It had strong arms for digging, broad hips to brace itself in the tunnel, and fused skull bones, all features typical of modern-day burrowing animals.
The bones were all found at the end of the tube, where the tunnel widened out into a den. It seems likely that a family of burrowing dinos got trapped here in a flood.
Dinosaurs walked the Earth for some 165 million years. It’s no great surprise that some of them would have evolved to fill different ecological roles. The bigger surprise is that their bones were preserved all these years, and that scientists were able to piece together the puzzle of the mystery rocks.
More amazing still is the fact that this discovery was only announced in mid-October, and the dinosaur already has its own
Wikipedia entry.
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