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The most scary dinosaur in history, the Tyrannosaurus rex, comes from a long line of small creatures.
Scientists have identified a new parent of Tyrannosaurus rex, also known as T. rex. Scientists say that this parent was only one meter tall, being the size of a small child.
American Sterling Nesbitt, a paleontologist, discovered the dinosaur. He told the Associated Press that if the old creature raised its head, an adult human "might look into her eyes."
Nesbitt works for the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. In 1998, he discovered the remains of the creature while working as a volunteer during a dig in New Mexico with a famous paleontologist. At the time, Nesbitt was only 16 years old.
For about 20 years, scientists did not know what to do with the remains until other small parents of T. rex were discovered.
"The small group of tyrannosauroid dinosaurs would give rise to some of the biggest The predators that we have ever seen, "noted Nesbitt. He is the leader author from a bone report. The results were published earlier this month in the scientific journal. newspaper Nature Ecology and Evolution.
The new dinosaur is called Suskityrannus hazelae. The name comes from a word in the language of the Zuni, an Amerindian tribe. He describes another small but modern predator: the coyote.
Scientists say the dinosaur dates back to 92 million years ago, about 20 million years before T. rex roamed the Earth. The newly discovered cousin weighed between 20 and 40 kilograms. It was three times longer than big. This is almost nothing compared to the T. rex of nine tons.
Suskityrannus hazalae is not the first or even the smallest member of the Tyrannosaurus family tree. But Nesbitt said it provided the best example of how this family of small dinosaurs evolved in the scary star of movies and TV shows.
Hans-Dieter Sues is a paleobiologist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. He suggested that it was an important discovery.
"Suskityrannus is the first very good record of the first tyrannosaurs in North America," he writes in an email. He was not involved in the study.
Scientists do not know why these meat eaters were not particularly big compared to other living dinosaurs of the time. It is therefore difficult to understand why they evolved later to become so huge.
Nesbitt said the newly discovered species is probably one of the last dinosaurs. He was bigger than the previous members of the species and had big feet needed for speed – something that T. rex lost.
I am Jonathan Evans.
Seth Borenstein reported this story to the Associated Press. Pete Musto adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the publisher.
We want your news. What other types of dinosaurs do you think scientists might discover someday? Write to us in the Comments section.
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Words in this story
paleontologist – not. a scientist who studies the remains of animals and plants that lived a long time ago, especially at the time of the dinosaurs
predator(s) – not. an animal that lives by killing and eating other animals
author – not. a person who has written something
newspaper – not. a magazine that presents topics of particular interest to a group of people
coyote – not. a small wild animal related to dogs and wolves and living in North America
evolve(re) – v. to change or develop slowly in a better, more complex or more advanced state
paleobiologist – not. a scientist who studies the biology of animals and plants that lived a long time ago, especially at the time of the dinosaurs
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