Meet the 'new' dinosaurs: vegetarian and feathered

Dinosaurs have been portrayed in movies as gigantic, carnivorous animals bent on devouring puny humans. Recently, though, scientists have found more fossils that shine a light of diverse views on these ancient creatures.

 

While, some dinosaurs are undeniably meat lovers and of gargantuan size, some are herbivores that are just as small as a modern day cat. And, behold, the feathers. 

 

These animals are not new discoveries per se, but a trove of new fossil finds have led more scientists to believe that feathers were more prevalent in dinosaurs than previously thought.

 

“Wired” magazine has made a list of the best recent dinosaurs discoveries that will stoke anew the fascination for these beasts that once ruled the Earth.

 

Vegetarian dwarf dino (Pegomastax africanus)

 

Called a plant-eating dwarf dinosaur, the Pegomastax africanus is an herbivore smaller than a cat covered with bristles, which can be seen among porcupines. It has a short, parrot-like beak with fangs that is why it is also regarded as a “Dracula” dinosaur.

 

Its fossil was embedded in a rock found in Southern Africa during the 1960s, but it was only last year that it was identified.

 

Bone-headed and dog-sized (Acrotholus audeti)

 

This creature may be the oldest bone-headed dinosaur in North America. Found in southern Alberta, Canada, Acrotholus audeti walked the Earth about 85 million years ago, and it has a four-inch-thick scalp cap.

 

This vegetarian species weighs about 40 kilogram or as big as a golden retriever and as a tall as a modern-day man when standing up. It looks like a smaller, vegetarian Tyrannosaur. 

 

Flightless raptor shaking tail feathers (Oviraptors)

 

Covered with a thick coat of feathers and a sharp, toothless beak, Oviraptors are closest to the birds of today although it is flightless. It closely resembles the modern ostrich and emu.

 

And, how does it woo a mate? A new study published in January in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica showed that courtship entailed flashing its multi-colored tail feathers. 

 

Oviraptors are theorized to have fed on mollusks and crustaceans and are believed to have lived in Central Asia, somewhere in Mongolia.

 

Squirrel-tailed dino with no scales (Sciurumimus albersdoerferi)

 

The discovery of Sciurumimus albersdoerferi in southern Germany last year has troubled scientists. The squirrel-tailed dinosaur, which lived about 150 million year ago, challenges the image of scaly dinosaurs.

 

Only a hatchling when it was fossilized, this meat lover dinosaur had a large skull and feather-like coat on its midsection, back and tail, which have led scientists to believe that feathers were more prevalent to dinosaurs than previously thought.

 

Alien-faced, giant veggie-lover (Xenoceratops foremostensis)

 

If you think that vegetarian dinosaurs are smaller compared to carnivorous ones, then meet Xenoceratops foremostensis, a two-ton, 20 feet long dinosaur, which lived in Canada about 80 million years ago.

 

Xenoceratops foremostensis, which means “alien-horned face,” had a parrot-like beak and eat plants only. – Rouchelle Dinglasan / KDM, GMA News