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Dwarf dinosaur

COMPILED BY R. KRITHIKA

Did you think all dinosaurs were huge and fearsome? Apparently not, as scientists recently discovered what could be a dwarf variety. A site in northern Germany has thrown up bones of a new dinosaur species that belongs to the Sauropoda family. This family also includes giants like Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus and the 120-foot-long Argentinasaurus. The new specimen, called Europasaurus holgeri, was between five and 20 feet long and had a crest on top of its head. Initially, scientists were under the impression that they had found fossils of young dinosaurs but a closer study showed that the bones were of adult beasts. During the late Jurassic period (about 155 million years ago), central Europe was under a warm shallow sea and many dinosaurs in the region lived on islands. Researchers suggest that isolation and limited resources would have led to the development of a smaller species.

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