Posted on 03/17/2009 2:16:07 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Meat-eating dinosaurs the size of a small chicken roamed areas of North America 75 million years ago, according to research by Canadian paleontologists.
The mini-dinosaur, similar in appearance to the Velociraptor, is named Hesperonychus elizabethae and is the smallest carnivorous dinosaur known to have lived in North America.
"Hesperonychus is currently the smallest dinosaur known from North America," said University of Calgary paleontologist Nick Longrich. "Its discovery just emphasizes how little we actually know, and it raises the possibility that there are even smaller ones out there."
Longrich, together with University of Alberta paleontologist Philip Currie, are authors of a study on the small creature that appears in the March 16 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Hesperonychus weighed about two kilograms (4.4 pounds) and stood about 50 centimeters (19 inches) tall. It ran on two legs and, like Velociraptor -- the deadly, agile dinosaurs made famous in the Jurassic Park movies -- had razor-sharp teeth and a large sickle-shaped claw.
"Judging by the amount of material that was collected, we believe animals the size of Hesperonychus must have been quite common on the landscape," Longrich said in a statement.
Hesperonychus probably hunted and ate insects, mammals, amphibians and maybe even baby dinosaurs that lived in the marshes and forests common in the area during the late Cretaceous period, the scientists said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The original ankle biter.
Yeah! Imagine how many gallons Original Recipe batter it'd take to coat that thing!
And imagine the size of the fryer!
How are people gonna fit the 15 piece bucket into their car?
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Tastes like chicken.
I'll second that.
ONE? Get a small flock for the hen house, hide the chickens, then sit back and wait for the weasel to show up.
tasted like frog
LOL. I love that picture. It reminds me of my grandmother’s nasty, nasty banty hen. When I was a girl, she seemed at least that big.
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