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Rhinorex Condrupus: 75-Million-Year-Old Huge-Nosed 'Jimmy Durante' Dinosaur Discovered in Utah
International Business Times (UK) ^ | September 22, 2014 11:01 BST | By Lydia Smith

Posted on 09/23/2014 11:59:55 AM PDT by Red Badger

Palaeontologists have discovered what they are calling the "Jimmy Durante" of dinosaurs, a type of hadrosaur with a distinctive nasal profile.

Named Rhinorex condrupus, the fossil was found by researchers from North Carolina State University and Brigham Young University, and lived in what is now Utah approximately 75 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period.

According to National Geographic, the date places the creature in the middle of a major dinosaur radiation, the process by which species adapt to new ecological niches.

Rhinorex, which translates roughly into "King Nose", was a plant-eater and a close relative of other Cretaceous hadrosaurs like Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus.

Hadrosaurs were common herbivores, found across what is now Asia, Europe and North America.

Although the dinosaurs are usually identified by bony crests that extend from the skull, Rhinorex has a different defining feature – a huge nose.

Terry Gates, a joint postdoctoral researcher with North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and Rodney Sheetz, of the Brigham Young Museum, came across the fossil in storage at BYU.

First excavated in the 1990s from Utah's Neslen formation, when Gates and Sheez reconstructed the skull, they realised they had a new species.

"We had almost the entire skull, which was wonderful," Gates said. "But the preparation was very difficult. It took two years to dig the fossil out of the sandstone it was embedded in -- it was like digging a dinosaur skull out of a concrete driveway."

Based on the recovered bones, Gates estimates that Rhinorex was about 30 feet long and weighed over 8,500 lbs.

Rhinorex, which thrived in a swampy estuarial environment around 50 miles from the coast, is the only complete hadrosaur fossil from the Neslen site.

"We've found other hadrosaurs from the same time period but located about 200 miles farther south that are adapted to a different environment," Gates told the Tech Times.

"This discovery gives us a geographic snapshot of the Cretaceous, and helps us place contemporary species in their correct time and place. Rhinorex also helps us further fill in the hadrosaur family tree."

Gates said the reason for the dinosaur's large nose was not yet understood.

"The purpose of such a big nose is still a mystery," he said.

"If this dinosaur is anything like its relatives then it likely did not have a super sense of smell; but maybe the nose was used as a means of attracting mates, recognizing members of its species, or even as a large attachment for a plant-smashing beak. We are already sniffing out answers to these questions."

The research was published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.


TOPICS: History; Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: bignose; dinosaur; godsgravesglyphs; jimmydurante; paleontology
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To: Red Badger

But did Condrupus like his oatmeal lumpy?

http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=akMxtAmxUGQ


21 posted on 09/23/2014 12:44:06 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: no-to-illegals

75 million light years away would be in another galaxy..................


22 posted on 09/23/2014 12:50:46 PM PDT by Red Badger (If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
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To: Red Badger

and they don’t know yet ... looking back, in time, the dinosaurs are still alive to them. Probably a good thing. As long as they think the dinosaurs are alive they won’t think about invading.


23 posted on 09/23/2014 12:53:59 PM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: no-to-illegals

But as they travel towards us time speeds up!.....................


24 posted on 09/23/2014 12:59:58 PM PDT by Red Badger (If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
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To: Red Badger

yep ... maybe they were here and gone again? Would explain so much.


25 posted on 09/23/2014 1:02:09 PM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Red Badger

Everybody’s doin it, doin it, doin it. Pickin their nose and ..............y’all know the rest.


26 posted on 09/23/2014 1:02:20 PM PDT by showme_the_Glory ((ILLEGAL: prohibited by law. ALIEN: Owing political allegiance to another country or government))
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To: Red Badger

Maybe men are from Mars and Women (capital ‘W’) are from Venus?!? Nope, it was God and God played a joke. God has to have a sense of humor otherwise God would be crazy as moslems.


27 posted on 09/23/2014 1:05:18 PM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: no-to-illegals

28 posted on 09/23/2014 1:13:49 PM PDT by Red Badger (If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
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To: Red Badger

75 million light years away would be in another galaxy..................

A long ways away...


29 posted on 09/23/2014 1:37:28 PM PDT by GraceG (No, My Initials are not A.B.)
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To: Dr. Ursus
"Good nite, Mrs. Calasauros!"

Everybody wants to get into the act.

30 posted on 09/23/2014 4:33:40 PM PDT by FroggyTheGremlim ("Your apathy is their power." - Sarah Palin Jul 19, 2014)
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To: eCSMaster

I’ m mortified!


31 posted on 09/23/2014 4:45:14 PM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: Red Badger; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...
Thanks Red Badger.


32 posted on 09/27/2014 12:14:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Slambat; Red Badger

Jerry Reed is one of my very favorite guitarists. Here he is playing “The Claw.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtmb-m4eG6w


33 posted on 09/27/2014 12:30:54 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra (Don't touch that thing Don't let anybody touch that thing!I'm a Doctor and I won't touch that thing!)
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To: Red Badger; SunkenCiv

Something interesting on cable show recently was a claim that some of the dinosaurs had large noses and sinus cavities that were used as sound chambers for their calls and possibly those sounds were for defense as they could scare other predators away.

I suspect this Rhino Rex specimen nicknamed the Jimmy Durante dinosaur would have had an amazing sound, something like “Inka Dinka Doo”


34 posted on 09/28/2014 8:44:53 AM PDT by wildbill (If you check behind the shower curtain for a murderer, and find one... what's your plan?)
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To: Dr. Ursus

35 posted on 09/28/2014 9:05:20 AM PDT by Brother Cracker (You are more likely to find krugerrands in a Cracker Jack box than 22 ammo at Wal-Mart)
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To: Dr. Ursus

Inky-Dinky-Do


36 posted on 09/28/2014 9:11:46 AM PDT by Starstruck (If my reply offends, you probably don't understand sarcasm or criticism...or do.)
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To: Slambat

Lived by hisself in the swamp? THAT Amos Moses?


37 posted on 09/28/2014 9:13:36 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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