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The animal, named Chakisaurus nekul, was found in the Pueblo
Blanco Natural Reserve, in the southern province of Río Negro,
an area rich in fossils where many mammals, turtles, and fish
have been found along with other species of dinosaur.
It is estimated that the largest Chakisaurus reached 2.5 or 3
meters long and was 70 centimeters high (8 to 10 feet long and
27 inches high).
Studies of Chakisaurus yielded new findings indicating that it
was a fast runner and had its tail curved unusually downward.
"This new species, Chakisaurus nekul, was a bipedal herbivore
that among its most important characteristics had a tail that,
unlike other dinosaurs, which was horizontal, had a downward
curvature," said Rodrigo Álvarez, author of the study.
"It is something super new for these animals. In addition, it is
known that it was a good runner, which was something it needed
because it lived with a large number of predators and its only
defense was to be faster than them."
The dinosaur's name derives from Chaki, which is a word from the
Aonikenk language, of the indigenous Tehuelche people, which
means "old guanaco", a reference to a medium-sized herbivore
mammal found in the region. Nekul means "fast" or "agile" in the
Mapudungún language, of the local Mapuche people.
"He had very strong hind limbs and a tail with an anatomy that
allowed him to maneuver it to the sides and so be able to
balance during races," Sebastián Rozadilla, co-author of the
publication, explained to Reuters.
A team of Argentine paleontologists with the support of the
National Geographic Society, made the discovery initially in
2018, but recently unveiled their finding in the respected
journal Cretaceous Research.
(Reporting by Miguel Lo Bianco; witing by Lucila Sigal; Editing
by Nicolás Misculin and Aurora Ellis)
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