Thaindian News

Aug 31 (THAINDIAN NEWS) According to a report in News.Discovery.com, the fossil of a new predatory dinosaur has been discovered in Romania, which dated back to the time when Romania was still an island. The animal was a meat eater which was between six and seven feet long, with huge claws which were most likely used to slash it’s prey.

The creature was named Balour Bondoc which means “Stocky Dragon”. The skeleton which was found is a very exciting discovery for the scientific world as it is the most intact remains which have ever been found from that era, around 72 to 65 million years ago, in Europe, since the country was mostly all under water then, with Romania being an island.

Normally, island species are smaller and stranger than their relatives who lived on larger continents. It is called “the island effect” by scientists. Project leader Zoltán Csiki told Discovery News, “Animals tend to do strange things on islands, simply because they are allowed to. Selective forces and restraints are more relaxed in island environments than within the more competitive continental environments.”

The Stocky Dragon had 20 unique features which set it apart from it’s nearest relatives. Two large curved claws which acted as a sickle to slash prey, short, stocky legs and feet which had it’s bones fused together to help with posture, and huge muscle attachment areas at the pelvis, which would have made the animal much more strong than fast.

Co-author Stephen Brusatte stated, “Balaur is a new breed of predatory dinosaur very different from anything we have ever known. Its anatomy shows that it probably hunted in a different way than its less stocky relatives.” Brusatte is a graduate of Columbia University and is associated with the American Museum of Natural History.