SALT LAKE CITY (NewsNation Now) — The past few weeks, scientists have gotten a better picture of how one of the most famous dinosaurs lived and even discovered brand-new types of the ancient creatures.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex now is believed to have been a pack animal instead of the lone hunter they’re often portrayed as.
Randy Irmis, Chief Curator of paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Utah and a University of Utah professor, said discoveries made at multiple sites showed the “charismatic dinosaur” lived in packs rather than hunting alone.
“And the most recent discovery was a site in southern Utah and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument that had many different individuals of a Tyrannosaur called ‘Teratophoneus,'” said Irmis.
Scientists have also calculated that approximately 2.5 billion T-Rexes lived on Earth over the species’ existence.
When it comes to discovering new species, Irmis said, “South America has been a really fertile place.”
Just recently an unknown plant-eating dinosaur was unearthed in Chile.
“And this giant, long neck, sauropod dinosaur is a new species that was just found in the Atacama Desert. And it’s really exciting because we’re learning a lot more about the dinosaurs in that area of South America,” said Irmis.
The recent discoveries also extended to the flying reptile variety with the revelation of a “Monkeydactyl.”
“During the time of dinosaurs, and one of the flying animals is an animal called the Pterosaur or Pterodactyl, and they’re not quite dinosaurs. They’re a different type of reptile,” said Irmis. “But this one has an opposable thumb, which you can imagine if you fly a lot. Being able to grasp with your wings could be really helpful.”
Irmis said they’re not exactly like the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz since they appeared a bit moe reptile like.