In the Asian desert ofGobi the remains of acarnivorous relative of Tyrannosaurus Rexwith several horns. Fossils of the predator, which lived in the late Cretaceous, 65 million years ago, were found during an expedition by the American Museum of Natural History.
The most surprising thing about the skull ofAlioramus Altai, as the new reptile has been baptized, is that it had along muzzle with eight hornswhich were probably about two inches long. Researchers suspect that thisbagpipes, too short to be used in combat, was used withsexual purposesto get the attention of females.
The kinship ofAlioramus with theTyrannosaurus was unveiled thanks toCT scansof his skull taken by Gabe Bever of the American Museum of Natural History. They show large air sacs, large olfactory bulbs, and a small inner ear, all characteristic of a member of the family.Tyrannosauridae (term of Latin origin that meanstyrant lizards). Yet it was relatively small, weighing 369 kilograms, and its teeth were too thin to break bones.
? This spectacular fossil tells us that there is much moreanatomical and ecological varietyamong these predators than we had thought, “said Stephen Brusatte, co-author of the study, who assures that” compared to theTyrannosaurus, this new animal is like a ballerina. “
