The Gobi desertwhich extends between Mongolia and China, it is one of the richest and most extraordinary fossiliferous deposits in the world: so many fossils come out of its rocks that you often get years before having time to study them. This is what happened to a collection of remains of a dinosaur discovered in 2012 by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, which have been subjected to accurate analysis only recently by a team of the University of Hokkaido, in Japan. The results, published on IRCHIENCEsay the fossils belonged to a species so far unknownwith ananatomy of the legs Very particular.
Only two fingers, but beautiful big. The Fossils of the dinosaur, which was baptized Duonychus tsogtbatari In honor of the paleontologist Mongol Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar, they were discovered in the Bayanshiree Formation: it is an extremely arid area consisting of strati of petrified mud, clay and sand, in which Dinosaur fossils are preserved exceptionally wellas shown by the numerous discoveries that follow one another on -site now since the sixties of the last century.
The name Duonychus gives a clue to the main peculiarity of this dinosaur: he had Only two fingerson which two grew large claws – about 30 cm in length. Most of the related dinosaurs with Duonychus they have three fingers: they exist only five species (who know) who have lost one, and now further analyzes will be needed to understand why this new dinosaur has also happened.
Perfect conservation. The fact that Duonychus He had two big claws per paw does not mean he was a predator: according to the authors of the study it was herbivorousand used the fingers to grab the vegetation and tear it to bring it to the mouth.
Other details that emerge from the study concern the age of the dinosaur, who lived among the 90 and 95 million years agoand the fact that it was bipedal and feathered. The claws, however, remain its most evident feature, also for their excellent condition: the fossil fingers of Duonychus still maintain their three -dimensional structure and above all the nails, which are made of keratin And usually they do not fossilize.
