home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
/ Eyewitness: Dinosaur Hunter Deluxe / DKDINO_1.ISO / der / tm1m / tm1m6p1m.dib (.png) < prev    next >
Bitmap Image  |  1996-07-04  |  241KB  |  305x779  |  8-bit (47 colors)
Labels: text | font | paper | screenshot | letter | document
OCR: Scientists studied the Herrerasaurus bones discovered by Victorino Herrera and noticed that parts of the legs and hips were very primitive, suggesting that the creature did not belong to either of the two main groups of dinosaurs, the ornithischians ("bird-hipped" dinosaurs) and saurischians ("lizard-hipped" dinosaurs). They decided that Herrerasaurus may have been closely related to the ancestors of both these groups. It was an important discovery, and the scientists were eager to find a complete skeleton. VALLE DE LA LUNA The San Juan area of Argentina, where Victorino Herrera discovered the first Herrerasaurus bones, is now part of the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) National Park. In 1988, Paul Sereno (b. 1957), from the University of Chicago, together with José Bonaparte (b. 1928) and other American and Argentinean scientists, went on a six-week expedition to the Park, hoping to find more fossils. The team struck lucky and found many bones, including a Herrerasaurus skeleton, complete apart from neck and skull. SERENO'S LUCKY HUNCH Toward the end of the expedition, Sereno realized that the team had missed out a small section of ground in their search. He returned to the spot, which was over an hour's drive away. Just 15 m (50 ft) from where he stopped his truck, he found the first Herrerasaurus skull ever discovered, together with an almost complete skeleton. The skull, with its extra jaw hinge, proved that Herrerasaurus was a flesh-eating dinosaur with a tremendous bite.