Scientists found a strange-looking dog-sized fossil of a dinosaur species in Chile that has a unique slashing tail weapon. Scientists say some dinosaurs had spiked tails that they mostly used for stabbing weapons. Some other species had tails with clubs. This new finding has been published in the journal Nature. In this paper scientists explored a new dinosaur species that had seven pairs of “blades” laid out sideways from the dinosaur’s body that they have used as a slashing weapon like ancient Aztec warriors.
Alex Vargas, a scientist from University of Chile, said that this new kind of tail look crazy when they made a 3D illustration of the dinosaur.
Before this species of dinosaur, the plant-eating critter has also a similar kind of tail traits. As this dinosaur looks similar to a stegosaurus, because of its tail weapon, scientists named it stegouros elengassen.
Scientists have examined the skull and five different DNA of the species. They found out that this species is not at all related to a stegosaurus.
They also suspected that this species is a distant relative of the tank-like ankylosaur family of dinosaur.
Scientists say the fossil of the dinosaur is of 72 million to 75 million years old. Scientists have discovered the fossil as if the dinosaur has been caught in a quicksand.
The animal is six feet long but its height is only similar to the height of a dog.
Scientists assume that its tail has helped to protect it from larger predators.
