Biggest predator? We have a new winner

[M Murphy <4mjmu@home.com>]

>From today's N.Y. Times

A New Gigantic Dinosaur Is Discovered

          By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

               cientists have discovered the bones of what could be
largest
               meat-eating dinosaur ever to walk the earth, a
needle-nosed,
          razor-toothed beast that may have been more terrifying than
          Tyrannosaurus rex.

          A team of researchers from Argentina and North America
unearthed the
          fossilized bones of as many as six of the previously unknown
species in
          Patagonia, a largely barren region on the eastern slopes of
the Andes.

          The discovery of the predators' graveyard challenges the
theory that the
          largest meat-eaters were loners and raises the possibility
that they lived
          and hunted in packs, which would have made them even more
terrifying
          to their prey.

          "You always think of these things as being solitary -- now we
know they
          traveled in packs," said Dr. Philip J. Currie, one of two
scientists to make
          the discovery. He works with the Royal Tyrrell Museum in
Alberta,
          Canada.

          Dr. Currie said the newly discovered species lived about 100
million
          years ago, and was heavier and had slightly shorter legs than
the T. rex,
          which roamed North America. It had a tail and short front legs
that were
          basically useless.

          The dinosaur had a long, narrow skull and a jaw shaped like
scissors.
          That suggests it could have dissected its prey with an almost
surgical
          precision, "where the Tyrannosaur had a nutcracker skull," Dr.
Currie
          said.

          Researchers estimated that the meat-eating giant was 45 feet
long, bigger
          than the reigning king of the carnivores, the 41-foot
Giganotosaurus. The
          better-known T. rex was up to 40 feet long.

          "I think it would look just as nasty, if not worse," Dr.
Currie said. "This
          guy has a long snout, long skull, incredibly sharp teeth. I
think it would
          have been terrifying."

          The researchers have given their discovery a South American
Indian
          name, but they are withholding it until their findings are
published. They
          released some details of the discovery in conjunction with an
exhibit of
          some of Dr. Currie's other findings at the Riverfront Arts
Center in
          Wilmington, Del. The exhibit opened on Friday.

          Dr. Currie said that the animal was apparently related to the
          Giganotosaurus, but that it was a new species and genus,
making the two
          creatures as closely related as a dog and a fox. It is further
removed from
          the T. rex, at least as different as a dog is from a cat.

          Dr. Kenneth Carpenter, a paleontologist at the Denver Museum
of
          Natural History, said the size of the dinosaur was not what
made it
          scientifically interesting.

          "It's that we've got a new species and that we've got more
than one
          individual," said Dr. Carpenter, who has not yet seen the
findings. "It
          shows that the diversity of dinosaurs has increased."

          In 1995, a farmer led Dr. Currie's colleague, Rodolfo Coria of
the
          Carmen Funes Municipal Museum, to the site in the Andes
foothills about
          640 miles southwest of Buenos Aires. The region has yielded
several
          discoveries, including the Giganotosaurus.

          Thinking they might have found another Giganotosaurus, the men
began
          working together on the site in 1997. They grew excited as
they realized
          they had found something new.

          They now have remains from at least a half-dozen of the
dinosaurs,
          ranging from half-grown to full-grown animals.