What was a Megaraptor?

About Megaraptor:

• Megaraptor was a large theropod of the Cretaceous Period, 84 to 65 mya.
• megaraptors possessed strong arms that wielded sickle-like claws that could inflict fatal wounds on prey, along with a more lightly built skull and jaws studded with smaller teeth.
• They also had air-filled, bird-like bones.
• Megaraptor was about 25–26 feet (7.5–8 meters) long.
• Incomplete Megaraptor remains were found in 1996 in Northwest Patagonia, Argentina, by paleontologist Fernando E. Novas. Novas named it in 1998.

 

Cretaceous Period:

• The Cretaceous Period, in geologic time, is the last of the three periods of the Mesozoic Era.
• The Cretaceous began 145.0 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago.
• It followed the Jurassic Period and was succeeded by the Paleogene Period.

 

What is a Theropod?

• This group includes all the known carnivorous dinosaurs as well as the birds.
• They have a carnivorous dentition and large, recurved claws on the fingers.
• They have a distinctive joint in the lower jaw.

 

Patagonian Region:

• It is a sparsely populated region located at the southern end of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile.
• The region comprises the southern section of the Andes mountains as well as the deserts, steppes and grasslands east of this southern portion of the Andes.
• Patagonia has two coasts; a western one towards the Pacific Ocean and an eastern one towards the Atlantic Ocean.

 

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Q1) What is Paleontology?

Paleontology is the scientific study of prehistoric life and the history of the Earth's organisms.

Source: Four dinosaur species found in Chilean valley for first time: Study