Wednesday June 18th 2001 it was announced that new dinosaurs were discovered in the Zuni Basin, region of New Mexico.
Doug Wolfe, who found the fossils said..."T Rex had feathers and so did many other dinosaurs...Museums everywhere are going to have to put new skins on their dinosaurs."
The dinosaurs announced in Washington D.C. were both covered in emu-like feathers and lived in swampy forests about 90-100 million years ago. sloth-like, Nothronychus weighed a ton, was twenty feet long and twelve feet tall, it was a herbivore, it is believed it is related to Tyrannosaurus Rex. The other find has yet to be named, it is a three feet tall carnivore from the Coelurosaur family.
Doctor Wolfe went on to say...
"They are truly, truly bizarre. They provide a glimpse of life during a period of greenhouse climate and rising oceans, conditions humans may face in the future if the worst predictions of global warming are accurate."
The findings in New Mexico back up other recent feathered findings in China, pointing to birds being directly descended from dinosaurs.
Cambridge University expert Paul Upchurch said..."The new finds seems to show feathers were far more widespread among dinosaurs than previously thought."
And Tom Holtz of Maryland University said..."Nothronychus and the Coelurosaur are close to birds based on their anatomy...All birds are dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs were birds."
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Last Updated: 22nd June 2001