Peliyontologists have detected a former dinosaur species in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, named Donichus Tsogatbatri, BBC Informed
This newly identified species is unique among therizinosaonosaurus, which is a group of dinosaurs, which usually consists of three claws on each hand.
Unlike its three-clad relatives, Duonychus Tsogtbaatari had only two large, curved claws, which researchers believe that the vegetation was highly specialized to greedy.
Dinosaur, approximately 260 kg is estimated to be weighed, lived during late cretaceous periods, about 100.5 to 66 million years ago.
The discovery was made in a rich fossil site, Bansiri Formation in the Gobi Desert, which UNESCO has described as one of the world’s most important dinosaur fossil reservoirs. The Gobi region has obtained several samples from the late Cretesius, a period that looks at the last major stage of dinosaurs’ development.
A study co-writer and Associate Professor at Calgary University. Darla Zelenitsky described therizinosaurus as “strange-painting” organisms, pointing to the large-scale claws of their famous relatives, therizinosaurus, which was depicted in the film Jurassic World Dominion.
One of the most notable aspects of this discovery is that the Duonychus tsogtbaatari sample preserves the first known keratinus sheath of a Therizinosor Claw.
Similar to the outer covering of human nails, it enhances the sheath, strength and utility of the claws, potentially helps in defense, movement, or even forging.
The importance of this two-finger adaptation is the subject of the ongoing study. While two-fledged therapods such as Tyranosaurus Rex are well known, Dyonichus Tsogtabatri developed this feature independently, making it a unique case in the development of dinosaurs.
Researchers estimated that low number of claws could be a evolutionary response to special feeding habits or environmental factors.
This discovery provides a new insight into the diversity of therizinosaurus and combines our understanding of the development of dinosaurs during late cratesus.
