When I was considering what to write about this week, I realised that all of my blog posts have centred around coronavirus and Im sure we are all sick of hearing about it, especially with the latest news of a mutated strain. Therefore, I wanted to talk about something else to lift everyone’s spirits.
Throughout the week, I was catching up on recent science news and I stumbled across this: recently, an animal named a Ubirajara jubatas was discovered that is being called a ’chicken sized dinosaur’. I was absolutely over the moon to read this- a chicken dinosaur? How exciting and what a turn of events! 2020 is really throwing everything at us.
The animal is two-legged and has long, fur-like feathers as well as two ribbon-like spears jutting from its shoulders. These features are peculiar and have not been documented in any fossil records for dinosaurs! The feathers are controlled by the animals muscles, much like a dog or porcupine, allowing the feathers to stand up when it feels threatened. David Martill, a University of Portsmouth researcher, said that the spears on its shoulders were probably used for display, for mate attraction, inter-male rivalry or to frighten off foes and that given its flamboyance, we can imagine that the dinosaur may have indulged in elaborate dancing to show off its display structures.
The dinosaur’s name takes inspiration from Brazil’s indigenous Tupi tribe. Ubirajara trabslates to ‘lord of the spear’.
I hope reading up on this cute dino made you as happy as it made me. This is my last blog post before Christmas, so I hope you all have the loveliest Christmas and enjoy it as much as is possible.
As ever, contact me or comment with things you’d like to read about!