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A New Pisttacosaurus to Talk-o-'bout

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The small Asian dinosaur Psittacosaurus might not be a household name, but it’s one of the most diverse and well-understood dinosaurs outside of birds. This modest-sized dinosaur looked somewhat like a cross between a pig and a parrot with its short legs, round body, and birdlike beak. Despite this unassuming appearance, Psittacosaurus was a ceratopsian distantly related to the large horned dinosaurs like Triceratops and Pachyrhinosaurus that would appear later.

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Some wonderful fossils of Psittacosaurus bearing preserved soft tissue have given us an excellent idea of what this dinosaur looked like when it was alive. Preserved nests containing fossilized juveniles give us information on the breeding and social habits of Psittacosaurus. It was also one of the most speciose types of dinosaur known to science. What this means is, unlike most dinosaur types which only contain one or two species, there’s around a dozen or so species of Psittacosaurus currently described. For a creature that not even a lot of dino-obsessed kids are aware of, paleontologists are swimming in a wealth of Psittacosaurus.

Recently, yet another new species of Psittacosaurus has been described by paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History. Psittacosaurus amitabha from central Mongolia is not only the latest species of this dinosaur, it’s also one of the largest and most primitive as well. The specimen that was assigned by the authors to this species comes from the Ondai Sayr locality in Mongolia, a region that hasn’t produced Psittacosaurus specimens in nearly a century. Its species name comes from the Amitabha Buddha, one of the most venerated in all of Mongolia, and a fitting name of this lovely dinosaur.

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Another interesting thing about P. amitabha is the presence of gastroliths found in the specimen. These are small rocks also known as ‘gizzard stones’ that some herbivorous dinosaurs swallowed in life to help with food digestion. Modern birds like waterfowl and chickens swallow grit and sand to for the same purposes. Unlike its later horned dinosaur relatives who had very capable chewing teeth, the chompers of Psittacosaurus were only suited for simple chopping and slicing of plant material, so it needed help to mechanically break down its food.

No one is sure yet why there’s so many more species Psittacosaurus than any other non-avian dinosaur. Are we seeing differences between different specimens that don’t actually reflect a difference in species, or have we really been over-lumping other dinosaur species together all this time? It’s a difficult topic to deal with in paleontology, but one that we’ll keep slowly but surely chipping away at.

Upcoming Museum Events

Aug. 24, 1 p.m. – 8 p.m.: Summer Jams with Caity Benham

Aug. 25, 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.: Dino Derby. Watch the greatest race of our era from the Grand Stands at Evergreen Park.

Aug. 30, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.: Dino Story Time

Try your hand at working with real dinosaur bones. The Fossil Preparation Lab Volunteer program is running Tuesdays-Thursdays and the first Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays from 1–7 p.m. For a posted schedule, see dinomuseum.ca/programs/public-programs/fossil-preparation-lab/.

-Nicholas Carter, Dino Views and News

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