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| Illustration by Matt Van Rooijen |
A new species of running dinosaur has been unearthed in China. The new dinosaur belongs to a group called Alvarezsaurs, which are longed legged dinosaurs adapted for running. They are closely related to the ancestors of all modern birds. Nicknamed the roadrunner, the tiny dinosaur is one of the smallest and leggiest
Alvarezsaurs ever discovered. Remains of the newly discovered species,
Xixianykus zhangi, were found last year by a local farmer in China's Henan Province, around 250 miles south of Beijing. The dinosaur lived about 85 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period. Scientists believe the little dinosaur was no more than 50cm long with legs around 25cm long. It is also believed "roadrunner" had feathers!
National Geographic News have more on this story.
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