Species of dinosaur that lived 90 million years ago is discovered in Argentina

Paleontologists from Argentina announced the discovery of a new medium-sized herbivorous dinosaur who moved quickly and lived about 90 million years in the Late Cretaceous period in the current Patagonia .

baptized by Chakisaurus nekul the animal was found in Pueblo Blanco Nature Reserve in the province of Río Negro, in the south of the country, an area rich in fossils where many mammals, turtles and fish have been found, as well as other species of dinosaurs.

It is estimated that the largest Chakisaurus reached 2.5 or 3 meters long and 70 centimeters high .

Studies on Chakisaurus have produced new discoveries that indicate it was a fast runner and had a downward curved tail something unusual.

“This new species, Chakisaurus nekul, was a bipedal herbivore that, among its most important characteristics, had a tail that, unlike other dinosaurs, which was horizontal, had a downward curvature,” said Rodrigo Álvarez, author of the study.

“It’s something very new for these animals. Furthermore, it is known that he was a good runner, which was necessary because he lived with a large number of predators and his only defense was to be faster than them.”

The dinosaur's name derives from Chaki, a word from the Aonikenk language, of the indigenous Tehuelche people, which means “old guanaco”, a reference to a medium-sized herbivorous mammal found in the region. Nekul means “fast” or “agile” in the Mapudungún language of the local Mapuche people.

“He had very strong hind limbs and a tail with an anatomy that allowed him to maneuver it sideways and thus balance himself during races,” Sebastián Rozadilla, co-author of the publication, explained to Reuters.

With support from the National Geographic Society, a team of Argentine paleontologists made the discovery in 2018, but only recently revealed the find in the respected magazine Cretaceous Research.