New discoveries of dinosaur remains all over the world have surfaced recently. With these remains have also come newly discovered species and traits that have been rocking the world of paleontology.

In Japan

An 85 million-year-old skull of an hadrosaurid, or “duck-billed dinosaur”, was found in the town of Mifune in Japan.

This is a small town on a mountain that found the fossil of this skull. The discovery of this fossil was made early 2004, but it has taken time to clean and identify this relic. Other body parts of this species have been found all over Japan, but never in this area.

The “duck-billed dinosaur” stood 7 to 8 meters (22-26 feet) tall and had a head that resembled that of a duck. This is how it got its name. The animal only ate plants and was known as a herbivore.

In Argentina

An 88 million-year-old dinosaur was found in Argentina that is thought to be a new species that was previously undiscovered. The different bone structure of its neck has given scientists the idea of its newness.

The dinosaur is an herbivore that stood more than 32 meters, or 105 feet tall. This is one the largest ever found. They are calling it “Futalognkosaurus dukei”, meaning “chief” and “giant”.
The Argentina site has also yielded two other dinosaurs that are deemed the largest of their kinds found so far. They are the Argentinasaurus and the Puertasaurus reuili, standing 35 to almost 40 meters (115 to 131 feet) tall. Further connections between the three have been difficult due to the limited amount of bones found for each skeleton.

In Utah

A 75-million-year-old dinosaur was found in Utah. This is a new version of the duck-billed dinosaur that has not been seen before. It has a smaller skull and more than 800 teeth, making it a very powerful feeder on vegetation.

This particular version of the duck-billed dinosaur has been renamed “Gryposaurus monumentensis”, which means “hooked-beak lizard from the monument”. It stood 3 meters (10 feet) tall and was 9 meters (30 feet) long. Its skeleton shows that it was a husky creature with very big bones.

Study

As more and more duck-billed dinosaurs surface, scientists are pondering how there are so many variations of this dinosaur and why.

Some of the mentioned sites have given up many more specimens to study. So hopefully, time and more digging will uncover the answers to these questions, along with more information about dinosaurs in general.