Utah Dig Reveals "Arnold Schwarzenegger" of Dinosaurs
New Species of Plant-Eater was Huge, Toothy
Paleontologists identified the new dinosaur, named Gryposaurus monumentensis, based on a skull found in a previously unexplored area of Grand Staircase in Utah. The thick and massive skull included a large number of teeth; scientists believe the dinosaur had as many as 300 teeth in its mouth at a time, with up to 500 more replacement teeth ready in its jaw to emerge when needed.
The Gryposaurus (for "hook-beaked lizard") is believed to have grown up to 30 feet in length. It roamed Utah during the Late Cretaceous, about 75 million years ago, a time when the region had a humid climate and fronted a shallow sea that split the continent down the middle.
"It was a monster," said Terry Gates, a paleontologist at the Utah Museum and a member of the university's Department of Geology and Geophysics. "With its robust jaws, no plant stood a chance against G. monumentensis."
Fellow museum paleontologist Scott Sampson compared the dinosaur to Arnold Schwarzenegger, noting the size and massive build of the skull.
Researchers discovered the skull in 2002 while working with a team from the Claremont, California-based Alf Museum at Webb School, the only high school campus with a nationally-accredited paleontology museum. Webb students and volunteers participate in scientific field work each summer, and one of them is credited with finding the skull: Duncan Everhart, a furniture-maker from Pennsylvania.
Utah's Grand Staircase region has yielded numerous fossil finds of new dinosaur species, including Hagryphus, a Velociraptor-like meat-eater; a new type of tyrannosaur; and several kinds of horned dinosaurs.
A detailed description of the Gryposaurus find was published in this week's issue of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Utah Museum of Natural History, "Toothy Dinosaur Newest to Come Out of Southern Utah." URL: (http://umnh.utah.edu/pageview.aspx?id=18033)
Published by Shirley Gregory
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- Gryposaurus had up to 800 teeth in its jaw: 300 for eating and 500 ready as replacements.
- Gryposaurus lived about 75 million years ago, when Utah was humid and faced a shallow sea.
- Gryposaurus is one of several new species of dinosaurs found in Utah's Grand Staircase.
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