Farmer Discovers Fossil of Ant-Eating Dinosaur

LiveScience ^ | Tuesday, March 30, 2010 | Charles Q. Choi

[SunkenCiv]

One of the smallest known dinosaurs, Xixianykus zhangi was built for quick running. A shorter upper leg relative to its lower leg helped the dinosaur carry its weight more efficiently. A newfound ant-eating dinosaur was one of the smallest known and also one of the best adapted for running, scientists revealed... lived in a warm, temperate forested environment watered by rivers and lakes alongside duck-billed dinosaurs and likely sail-backed predators known as spinosaurs roughly 89 million to 83 million years ago. Scientists aren't sure how the dinosaur perished, but the fossil is fairly intact compared with many, so another creature probably did not kill it.

[SunkenCiv]

Credit: Matt van Rooijen.

[SunkenCiv]

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[ConservativeMind]

“Xixianykus zhangi”

What kind of bastardization of Latin (or Chinese) is THAT?

[Brilliant]

“Scientists aren’t sure how the dinosaur perished...”

Possibly it starved because ants did not evolve until millions of years later?

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, that’s just bad planning.

[SunkenCiv]

The Roman Empire isn’t around to complain, and the Chinese are commies, so screw ‘em.

[sportutegrl]

I think that is Chinese for aardvark.

[bunkerhill7]

Scientists aren’t sure how the ant-eating dinosaur perished,-

I know how.
It was THEM.

[Pelham]

” The dinosaur’s name derives from Xixia, its region of origin, onyx (Greek for claw) and specific name in honor of paleontologist Zhang Wentang, “who has contributed greatly to the study of paleontology in Henan Province,” according to the statement.”

[wendy1946]

For all anybody knows, that thing might have lived exclusively on chocolate-chip cookies and been so gigantically allergic to ants that the mere sight of an ant would cause it to die of asphyxiation.

[SunkenCiv]

Try to be realistic. They didn’t even *have* tolls, much less tollhouses back then.

[null and void]

Scientists aren’t sure how the ant-eating dinosaur perished,-

I know how.
It was THEM.

Indeed...

[colorado tanker]

Them had an astonishingly highly evolved detection mechanism for hot babes, circa 1950.

[SunkenCiv]

It’s amazing what some of those tacky movies did with small budgets.

[colorado tanker]

I don't know how to break this to you, kid, but this man died in a stinker B movie so you could go on to a great career.