As deadly as it was small and adorable.
Y’know how modern chickens evolved from the giant dinosaurs of centuries past? Well, it turns out not all of them started off gigantic and then became small later.
Scientists have officially confirmed the existence of a previously unknown type of dinosaur. This new subspecies, given the species name Suskityrannus hazelae (based on the Zuni word for “coyote,” apparently) is a cousin of the infamous Tyrannosaurus Rex. Despite what that pedigree may have you assume, though, the Suskityrannus hazelae was only three feet tall, about the size of a human toddler. Based on dating estimates, the Suskityrannus hazelae dates back 92 million years, which is a good 20 million before T-Rexes were confirmed to be lumbering around.
Virginia Tech paleontologist Sterling Nesbitt originally discovered the remains of Suskityrannus hazelae in 1998, but they weren’t confirmed to be a new species until more tiny T-Rex subspecies were uncovered to corroborate.
“The small group of tyrannosauroid dinosaurs would give rise to some of the biggest predators that we’ve ever seen,” Nesbitt commented on the minuscule predators. Scientists are still trying to determine why these tiny tyranos evolved into the massive rexes we know, with size being the major confounding factor.
