Were dinosaurs able to live on land as well as in water? Scientists have been debating this for years. A duck-like dinosaur fossil discovered in Mongolia may now provide the answer.
The dinosaur in question had a streamlined body, like ducks and cormorants do now. It’s the first time researchers have discovered these traits in a dinosaur that wasn’t a bird.
natovinator polydontusHe lived, as the dinosaur is called, more than 68 million years ago. The animal was small, like a duck, and probably used its front legs to swim. Researchers believe it lived in shallow waters and ate small fish. Tyrannosaurus had a relatively long neck and a mouth full of small teeth.
Scientists had previously suspected that there were non-avian dinosaurs suitable for both land and water. But the researchers had never before found a specimen with such a streamlined body natovinator polydontus.
It remains unclear how well the duck-like dinosaur could swim. The forelegs are short and the hind legs lack the powerful swimming characteristics of, for example, pearl divers.
Semi-aquatic animals such as mink also do not have a skeleton very suitable for swimming, but they can do it very well. for that matter natovinator polydontus It could be somewhere between a pearl diver and a mink, according to the researchers.
More research and fossil discoveries are needed to finally prove that there were dinosaurs that lived on land and water. study for natovinator polydontus It was published in the scientific journal Communication biology.
