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THE REMAINS OF two baby dinosaurs have been discovered inside the fossil of a 75-million-year-old tyrannosaur, shedding new light on the changing diet of the ancient predators.
According to a study published in the journal Science Advances, the hind limbs of two small bird-like dinosaurs called citipes were found beneath the rib cage of a juvenile gorgosaurus, a close cousin of the Tyrannosaurus rex.
The researchers behind the study say the discovery suggests juvenile gorgosaurus’ preyed on small, young dinosaurs, while earlier fossil evidence shows the adult gorgosaurus attacked and ate very large plant-eating dinosaurs which lived in herds.
Dr Darla Zelenitsky, one of the lead scientists in the study, told the BBC the discovery is “solid evidence that tyrannosaurs drastically changed their diet as they grew up”.
She said: “We now know that these teenage (tyrannosaurs) hunted small, young dinosaurs.
“These smaller, immature tyrannosaurs were probably not ready to jump into a group of horned dinosaurs, where the adults weighed thousands of kilograms.”
The fossil was originally discovered in Canada’s Alberta Badlands in 2009, but was entombed in rock and took years to be prepared for study.
The initial discovery was made by staff at Alberta’s Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology, who spotted small toe bones protruding from the rib cage.
Dr Francois Therrien, the other lead scientist in the study, told the BBC: “The rock within the ribcage was removed to expose what was hidden inside.
“And lo and behold – the complete hind legs of two baby dinosaurs, both under a year old.”
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Not to worry, the Queen and Obama’s visit should kick extra tourism into gear any time now.. Lol
These figures and a decline in exports are the start of a further decline in economic activity.
The next Exchequer returns for the jan mar period will see a reduction in spend thus proving austerity is forcing the economy into a depression.
This allied to a budget taking 3.5 billion
out will lead to a bleak 2011/12
Part of the decrease may have to do with a slowdown in emigration also.
Please tell me you mean immigration Noel? ;)
What? People AREN’T going on holidays in the winter?
And partly the impact of circa 15 flights in and 15 flights out of the Galway Airport that are no more
The useless DAA should sell the old terminal building in Cork airport to Ryanair. Let them make a regional hub out of it like they wanted to do when the new one opened and then we’ll see the numbers rise…at the moment its just sitting there empty…lateral thinking is needed.
The decline in movements doesn’t necessarily correspond to passenger decline.
The Cork decline looks bad, but amounts to 6 movements a day. Then you look at what those movements were.
The Manx2 flight to Belfast, which was canned after the crash, accounted for 4 of them, yet the plane only had a capacity of 19 and usually carried 10-15 people.
Also gone are the Air SouthWest flights to Newquay and Plymouth after the airline ceased operating. Their aircraft would have been the same size that Aer Arann use.
And then there seem to be fewer ski charters.
Passenger numbers are only down by 2%, despite the large fall in flight movements.
These figures refer to number of flights – not necessarily the number of passengers. Airlines may be running less flights with higher passenger loads, or bigger aircraft.
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