Exciting Discovery: Meet the Newly Uncovered Raccoon-Sized Dinosaur from 76 Million Years Ago in Utah!

SALT LAKE CITY — Hank Woolley found something remarkable at the Natural History Museum of Utah. While visiting, he opened a jar labeled "lizard" and discovered a 76-million-year-old fossil. This fossil, taken from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 2005, had been stored away until Woolley, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, came across it.

Inside the jar, Woolley found a fragmentary skeleton. He quickly realized its importance. “We don’t know much about large lizards from the Kaiparowits Formation in Utah, so I knew this was significant right away,” he said.

Woolley led a research team that recently published findings in the journal Royal Society Open Science. They identified this specimen as a prehistoric ancestor of modern Gila monsters. Co-author Randy Irmis, a paleontology expert at the University of Utah, emphasized the significance of this discovery. “It’s exciting not just because we found a new species but because it sheds light on a unique ecosystem that existed 76 million years ago,” he said.

Paleontologists first recognized the fossil’s importance two decades ago when it was uncovered. It waited in the museum until Woolley arrived with the right expertise to explore its features. Analyzing the skull, vertebrae, and limbs, the team found that this lizard was more complete than many of its ancient relatives.

The species, named Bolg amondol, was about the size of a raccoon, making it one of the smaller dinosaurs of its time. The name "Bolg" pays homage to a character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, reflecting the lizard’s goblin-like skull.

Irmis pointed out that Bolg coexisted with other large lizards, indicating a rich and stable ecosystem. This discovery could provide insights into lizard evolution, especially since Bolg links back to modern species like the Gila monster.

Interestingly, research shows that ecosystems today still reflect aspects of this ancient environment. For instance, in the U.S., around 90% of lizard species are found in climates similar to those from the Late Cretaceous Period. This underscores a long-standing resilience in lizard evolution.

With more research, experts believe other similar species could still be hidden in Utah’s public lands, waiting to be uncovered. Perhaps more pieces of this ancient puzzle could soon surface, helping scientists learn even more about our planet’s history.

Source link

news,traffic,weather,sports,classifieds,cars,jobs,homes,television,radio,salt lake,utah,local,Science,Nature,History,Education