Zee Media Bureau
Washington: Scientists have discovered a freakish, bird-like species of dinosaur that weighed around 500 pounds and was likely covered in feathers.
The new species discovered is not literally a chicken, or even a bird. It actually is a member of a group of dinosaurs called oviraptorosaurs.
Scientists from Carnegie and Smithsonian museums and the University of Utah have named the the bird-like dinosaur 'Anzu wyliei'.
Anzu is the largest oviraptorosaur found in North America and has a crest on its head, a toothless beak, legs like an ostrich and is sharp-clawed.
Oviraptorosaurs are a group of dinosaurs that are closely related to birds and often have strange, cassowary-like crests on their heads.
Anzu with large sharp claws was an omnivore, eating vegetation, small animals and perhaps eggs while living on a wet floodplain.
The full fossil is on display at the Carnegie Museum.
(With Agency inputs)
First Published: Thursday, March 20, 2014, 09:39
