Giant, meat-eating raptor dinosaur discovered

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - The fossils of a newly discovered, meat-eating raptor dinosaur, one of the biggest and perhaps most recent to live in Argentina's Patagonia region 70 million years ago, were presented Wednesday at a Buenos Aires museum. The fossils of the dinosaur named "Austroraptor cabazai" were found at Bajo de Santa Rosa, in Rio Negro province, which has already yielded several species of herbivore dinosaurs, during paleontological digs funded by the US National Geographic Society. Measuring five meters (16 feet) in length with a long, flat cranium, short forearms and jaws full of sharp teeth, Austroraptor was among the largest of the raptors, and belonged to the dromaeosaurids or birdlike dinosaurs that walked on two legs, the most famous of which was the Velociraptor mongoliensis. The Austroraptor was found in rock formations dating to 70 million years ago, making it one of the last dinosaurs to walk in Patagonia before they became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period 145 to 65 million years ago. A plastic reproduction of the Austroraptor cabazai skeleton will be included in an exhibit of Argentine dinosaurs to open next year in Europe.

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