Photo Courtesy of Picture: Reuters / Bob Walters
Scientists call it the “chicken from hell!” It’s the new dinosaur discovery on the block. Assistant Curator Matthew C. Lamanna from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History reported the dino fossil findings along with scientists from University of Utah, the Smithsonian Institution in the scientific journal PLOS One. As you can see from the image above, the creature looks to be a birdlike species part dinosaur. It’s height: 11 feet long and weighs 500 pounds. Yes, it has a beak with no teeth and a bony crest at the top of its head.
The dino chicken has been categorized in a group called, oviraptorosaurs – feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period of what are now Asia and North America.
It’s more official name is now Anzu wyliei, derived from Sumerian mythology. An Anzu are seen as massive birds who can breathe fire and water, although Anzu is alternately seen as a lion-headed eagle – similar to a Griffin.
Lamanna told CNN, “You might think this was a really, really weird-looking bird,” Lamanna said. “… But, in fact, this was a very bird-like dinosaur … with a really long bony tail, very large hands and really sharp claws.”
This is the largest species of egg-stealing oviraptors that paleontologists have found. The skeleton of the Anzu is almost complete.
Looks like T-Rex has some competition.
