Digging Dinosaurs
Discovery to go on display this summer
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| An artist's impression of oryctodromeus cubicularis. (Photo: Courtesy of Lee Hall at Montana State University) |
March 28, 2007
Dinosaurs didn’t just walk the Earth long ago—they lived underground too! That's what scientists learned when they discovered the first species of a burrowing dinosaur. The discovery will go on display this summer at Montana State University’s Museum of the Rockies in an exhibit called "Hall of Giants."
The bones of the new species were uncovered in southwestern Montana in the summer of 2004. Paleontologists (scientists who study fossils, including those of dinosaurs) David Varricchio, of Montana State University, and Yoshihiro Katsura, of the Gifu Prefectural Museum of Japan, made the find.
"We had headed to that area because we knew there were Cretaceous (the period 65 million to 144 million years ago) rocks exposed," Varricchio told Scholastic News Online. "We know these were from a time [in] which few dinosaurs had been discovered, and we hoped to find something new.”
That's exactly what they did. Bones from an adult and two smaller and younger animals were found buried inside a burrow that the adult dinosaur had dug. All three sets of bones were of a new species of dinosaur.
The dino has been named oryctodromeus cubicularis. Orycto is Greek for “digger” and dromeus means “runner.” Oryctodromeus wasn’t a very large dinosaur, only about six feet long, and was mostly tail. It had long legs that helped it run quickly and short arms that would have been useful for dig-ging.
“Since the dinosaur has long fast hind legs, and short digging arms, we thought the name fit," Varricchio explained. "'Cubicularis’ means that the dinosaur built a den.”
According to Varricchio, the dinosaur's snout could have been used as a shovel. Its strong hipbones would have been helpful in supporting the dinosaur during digging.
"Underground homes would have protected the adult and its young from meat-eating dinosaurs," said Varricchio, "and would have been a cozy place to hide if the weather got bad.” Experts believe that the oryctodromeus cubicularis dinosaurs were plant-eaters.
The paleontologists think that the dinosaurs probably died when water from a nearby riverbank flooded their den, because there is evidence that sediment had filled the burrow. This sediment helped to preserve the skeletons and the burrow.
The discovery of the approximately 95 million-year-old dinosaurs also supports the idea that adult dinosaurs had parenting instincts, taking care of their young as they grew up.
Critical Thinking Question
Read today's news story, and then answer the following question.
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Gail Hennessey recently retired from teaching 6th grade social studies in Harpursville, New York. For more information and activity ideas, visit her Web site at http://www.gailhennessey.com/
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