The tiny fossil fragments were unearthed in a Welsh quarry half a century ago. To be precise, there were four fragments. And now, scientists have finally established it as a new dinosaur species.
Researchers at London’s Natural History Museum (NHM) agree that Pendraig Milnerae are the oldest meat-eating dinosaurs ever discovered in England. From the results of their research, the estimated age reaches 200 million years.
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The name Pendraig means “Dragon’s Head” in Welsh. At the time, these animals were at the top of the food chain or the top predators in their environment.
But don’t imagine the size of the T-Rex or Velociraptor in the film Jurrasic Park. ” Pendraig included in the theropod species. It is only the size of a chicken, with a very long tail and walks on two legs,” said Stephan Spiekman of the NHM.
The existence of Pendraig was proven only through four pieces of bone, which concluded that the animal was a vertebra, because it had a pelvis and a femur.
This Pendraig’s age is really old. It is estimated that it is 214 million years old. That is, very close to the first appearance of dinosaurs on earth.
In fact, when T-Rex and Velociraptor were just pacing the earth, Pendraig had long been a fossil. “These four fossil fragments are in very intact and undistorted condition. The fossils are really three-dimensional,” Dr Spiekman told BBC News.
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