In Thailand, a new species of dinosaurs

Just imagine - right now, in hundredsmeters below you, the bones of ancient animals or valuable objects of a thousand years ago can be buried. Unfortunately, dinosaurs were not found on the territory of modern Russia, but their remains can be found in many other parts of our planet. For example, recently fossils of an unusual flying dinosaur were found in China, and in Thailand there is an area called the “Dinosaur Valley”, where the remains of 11 ancient creatures were found over several decades. One of them was especially interested in scientists - it is the ancestor of the giant predator tyrannosaurus rex.

Tyrannosaurus with its ancestor Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis

Valley with many dinosaur boneslocated in a Thai national park called Nongbualamphu. Excavations in this area have been ongoing for more than 30 years, and during this time, researchers have discovered as many as 10 new species of dinosaurs. The eleventh of them was the distant ancestor of the huge tyrannosaurs, which were given the name Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis. According to The Thaiger, the new dinosaur got its name in honor of the Hindu god Vayu, who is considered the ruler of airspace.

New dinosaur species discovered

Judging by the fossilized bones of the lower extremities,the body length of the dinosaur was about 4.5 meters. The structural features of the skeleton hint that the creature was quite nimble. From this we can assume that he easily hunted his victims, only scientists cannot yet answer the question of what exactly this dinosaur was eating. In general, little is known about him, but in the illustration he was painted as a creature with black and yellow plumage, beak and legs like a chicken. This is not surprising - everyone already knows that dinosaurs are the ancestors of modern birds and many of them were covered with feathers.

So, according to the artist, the dinosaur Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis looked

After examining the remains of a dinosaur, scientists came to the conclusionthat he lived during the Cretaceous period, which began 130 million years ago and ended about 65 million years ago. At the end of this period of Earth’s history, a large-scale catastrophe occurred that killed more than 94% of dinosaurs, including the found Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis. Unfortunately, what exactly caused the extinction of ancient creatures and even plants is still not clear to scientists.

Do you know what the most important enemy of the dinosaurs looked like? Rather, read the article and look at it!

Why were there no dinosaurs in Russia?

At the beginning of the article there is a mention that onthe territory of modern Russia did not have dinosaurs. This is due to the fact that the ancient giants mainly lived in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when half of the current territory of our country was covered by shallow seas. Even if some creatures lived in these shallow waters, their remains simply did not survive to this day. The reason for this is considered to be glaciers passing through the territory of our country, which simply crushed the fossilized bones.

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But in Russia you can unearth the remains of mammoths andother ancient animals capable of living in permafrost. For example, in 2019, a severed head of a huge wolf over 40,000 years old was found in Siberia. This find was unique, because despite the millennium, the wolf retained soft tissues and the brain. You can read more about this discovery in our material.