Cuenca Dragon Hunter: Hunchback hunter of the Cretaceous Period
When it comes to animals with hunchbacks, everyone must think of camels, in fact, some dinosaurs also have a hunchback-like structure on their backs, including a carnivorous dinosaur that lived in Spain during the Cretaceous period, which is a strange-looking Cuenca dragon.
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01
The Great Discovery of cuenca Province
In the central part of Spain is the province of Cuenca, where the climate is dry and the land is barren, and geological features such as cone mountains and canyons are common. Beneath the earth's exposed rocks, fossils of paleontology can often be found. In 2002, paleontologists in Spain found a relatively complete dinosaur fossil in these rock formations, and when people cleared the rocks covering the fossils, a dinosaur fossil that maintained a skeletal connection was presented in front of people. Judging from its degree of preservation and the state of the bone link, this dinosaur stayed in place after death and belonged to the burial in situ.
Image note: Located in the Spanish province of Cuenca, image from the internet
Note: Large slates of fossils were found, picture from the internet
Dinosaur fossils unmistakably show that they belong to carnivorous dinosaurs. Since the fossil was found in the province of Cuenca, it was named concavenator.
Photo note: Paleontologists are studying the fossils of cuenca dragon hunters, image from the internet
02
Hunchback Hunter
The most prominent feature of the Cuenca Dragon is the structure of the nerve spines protruding from its back. In the recovery of the Cuenca Dragon, its back protrudes, like a hunchback protrusion. The hunchback structure has undoubtedly become a recognizable symbol of the Cuenca dragon hunter, but paleontologists cannot determine the role of this structure. Some argue that the hunchback structure of the Cuenca dragon was suitable for regulating the temperature of the body, while others believe that the hunchback was a visual identifier.
Photo note: Fossil of a dragon hunter in Cuenca, picture from the internet
Picture note: A hunchbacked Cuenca dragon hunter, picture from the Internet
The hunchbacked Cuenca Dinosaur was a medium-sized carnivorous dinosaur with a body length of about 6 meters, a hip height of 1.8 meters, and a weight of about 800 kilograms. As a carnivorous dinosaur, the Cuenca Dragon had a large head and a pair of large round eyes on either side of its head, so it had good eyesight. In the mouth of the Cuenca dragon hunter, there are two rows of sharp curved teeth, which are their prey weapons.
Picture note: Comparison of the body size of the Cuenca Dragon Hunter and humans, picture from the Internet
Illustration: A restoration of the Cuenca Dragon Hunt, picture from the Internet
The Cuenca Dragon was strong, with a long tail behind it to maintain balance in its body as it walked and ran. The Cuenca Dragon has long forelimbs, three fingers on its hands, and sharp claws at the ends of its fingers. Compared with the forelimbs, the hind limbs of the Cuenca Dragon are longer and stronger, which means that it has a fairly strong athletic ability, and the Kunca Dragon runs really fast.
While studying fossilized bones of Cuenca dragon hunters, paleontologists found a feather nodule structure on the ulna of its forearm, a row of small bony protrusions that are very common on the ulna of today's birds and function as attaching long feathers. It is precisely because of the feather structure left on the ulna that paleontologists believe that the forelimbs of the Cuenca dragon have feathers, but the role of its feathers is also a mystery.
Image note: The forelimbs of the Cuenca Dragon have feathers, and the image comes from the Internet
—Andy Andrews
03
Spanish killer of the Cretaceous
The Cuenca Dragon lived during the Early Cretaceous period, 130 million years ago, in Spain. Based on the formations in which the fossils were found, scientists determined that the Cretaceous Spanish climate was much warmer and wetter than it is today, when large inland lakes existed and stretches of green forests grew around them.
Picture note: The world where the Cuenca Dragon Hunter lives, picture from the internet
In freshwater lakes and forests, a variety of animals live, including many dinosaurs. Paleontologists have found dromiceiomimus belonging to the ornithistorans and mantellisaurus belonging to the iguanodonate. Both dinosaurs were prey to the Cuenca dragon hunters, but when it came to hunting them, the Cuenca dragon hunting strategy was completely different. For emu-like dragons, the Cuenca Dragon Hunter needs to be hunted quickly; for the Mantel Dragon, the Cuenca Dragon Hunter must be a hard-hitting contest of strength.
Image note: Mantel Dragon, image from the web
Picture note: Kunka Hunting Dragon that preys on an emus-like dragon, image from the Internet
There is no doubt that the Cuenca Dragon Hunter was the top killer of Early Cretaceous Spain, a hunchbacked carnivorous dinosaur that was the ruler of Spain at the time.
ps: The Cuenca Dragon Hunter once appeared in the movie "Jurassic World 2", if you look closely, you will find that there is a strange guy with a hunchback structure in the dinosaur restoration scene under the castle, that is a Kunka Dragon Hunter!
Resources:
1.rivera, a. (2010). "Discovered in basin a carnivorous dinosaur of a species unknown until now." the pais.com, 8-Sept-2010. accessed online 9-Sept-2010.
2.ortega, f.; escaso, f.; sanz, j.l. (2010). "a bizarre, humped carcharodontosauria (theropoda) from the lower cretaceous of spain" (pdf). nature. 467 (7312): 203–206. bibcode:2010natur.467.. 203o. doi:10.1038/nature09181. pmid 20829793.
3.naish, d. (2010). concavenator: an incredible allosauroid with a weird sail (or hump)... and proto-feathers?. tetrapod zoology, september 9, 2010.
Image / Network (Intrusion and Deletion)
Text / Jiang's Little Thief Dragon (Jiang Hong)
Typography / Jiang's Little Thief Dragon
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