New Dinosaur Species Found

How many dinosaur species can you name? Five, maybe ten, right? There are actually hundreds of species of dinosaurs. Some species, such as the famous T-Rex, are dinosaurs that man-kind has explored for many years. Other species may have been discovered more recently. One dinosaur, the Aardonyx Celestae, was discovered recently in South Africa. The search for this small headed, 23-foot-long, herbivore was led by an Australian paleontologist named Adam Yates. The Aardonyx Celestae dates back to the early Jurassic period. This dinosaur was 6 feet high when measured at the hip and weighed around 1,100 pounds. Yikes! This dinosaur may have been found earlier, but researchers found it pointless to dig in that area. They assumed that ordinary bones would be found there. This special dinosaur not only possesses the characteristics of the herbivores that walked on two legs, but was also found to be very similar to the brontosaurs that walked on all fours and grew to be quite large. One the first day of the search, Marc Blackbeard discovered a bone that was too large to belong to the common dinosaurs that roamed that area. It took a while, but finally, a decent part of the dinosaur was found and put together. Matthew Bonnan, who reasoned why dinosaurs were so large, (Being able to walk on all fours give you the ability to carry more weight. This is good because having a large size made it easier for them to protect themselves from carnivores.) said that he was very excited to be a part of the expidition. He said, "It has been a childhood dream to discover a new dinosaur.

I think that it is very fascinating to be living in a time where not only are dinosaur bones discovered, but they are also assembled to make a dinosaur. I think that it was pretty foolish of the science community to just assume that common dinosaur bones would be found in South America. As it turns out, they were wrong. I am also glad that they finally decided to dig there and that a new dinosaur was found. Looking at the measurements, I think that the dinosaur seems pretty small. However, I may be wrong because I do not have a lot of knowledge about dinosaurs. I am also happy for MAtthew Bonnan because it must feel great to finally accomplish your childhood dream. Maybe if we all keep trying, just maybe, one day, all of our dreams will come true too!

Sources:

Article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091111/ap_on_re_af/af_south_africa_dinosaur

Picture: http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/New-dinosaur-discovered-S-Africa/ss/events/sc/111109newdinosaur#photoViewer=/091111/481/5d9e06e268db4f1a8d788af002984ce9