Posted on 07/17/2009 8:41:30 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Don't let the Wolverine-like claws fool you. Unlike the X-men's most popular pugilist, this new dinosaur species was no predator, scientists say.
Dubbed Nothronychus graffami, the 13-foot-tall (4-meter-tall) therizinosaur (reconstructed skeleton pictured) lived about 92.5 million years ago in what is present-day Utah.
N. graffami's claw bones are 9 inches (23 centimeters) long. But in life, sheathed in hornlike keratin, the talons would have each been about a foot (30 centimeters) long, or about as long as the dinosaur's head.
(Related: how therizinosaurs shed light on dinosaur growth.)
In addition to its imposing claws—a therizinosaur trademark—the newfound dinosaur had a less-than-fearsome potbelly, a birdlike beak, stumpy legs, and a short tail, according to a report published online today by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
N. graffami's leaf-shaped teeth and big belly suggest the animal was a plant-eater—so why the killer claws?
"We really don't know," said study team member Lindsay Zanno of the Field Museum in Chicago.
You beat me to it..
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