Gigantoraptor

[Jeff Hecht <jeff@jeffhecht.com>]

Nature has lifted the embargo after somebody broke it, perhaps after a press 
conference in China. It's called Gigantoraptor, and is a seriously neat and 
seriously weird critter, a whopping-big oviraptorid. 

<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12045-feathered-dino-was-twice-your-height-and-had-claws.html>

Burrow into the paper, and you'll find all kinds of strange anatomical features 
that don't show up anywhere else, implying that we're missing some important 
chunks of dino-bird diversity. It's also surprisingly birdy and lightly built 
for such a big animal. They don't have much of the skull, but the lower jaw was 
 beak-like. Think snapping turtle or parrot. Nor do they have definite evidence 
of feathers, although they infer their presence. 
-- 
Jeff Hecht, science & technology writer
jeff@jeffhecht.com  http://www.jeffhecht.com
Boston Correspondent: New Scientist magazine
525 Auburn St., Auburndale, MA 02466 USA
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