A newfound ant-eating dinosaur was one of the smallest known and also one of the best adapted for running, scientists revealed.
A farmer discovered the fossil skeleton of the roughly foot-and-a-half-long creature, named Xixianykus zhangi, in southern Henan in China. The dinosaur lived in a warm, temperate forested environment watered by rivers and lakes alongside duck-billed dinosaurs and likely sail-backed predators known as spinosaurs roughly 89 million to 83 million years ago. Scientists aren't sure how the dinosaur perished, but the fossil is fairly intact compared with many, so another creature probably did not kill it.
This minute hunter possessed a number of adaptations for quick, highly efficient running, with features of the hind limb, pelvis and backbone that would have promoted stability and reduced superfluous, energy-wasting movements as it dashed across prehistoric landscapes.
The dinosaur also had a short upper leg in comparison with its lower leg, a trait seen in many running animals.
