The researchers know how the dinosaur evolved such a long neck. Over time, some of its backbones transformed to become neck vertebrae, "making a longer neck and the body trunk shorter." Why this happened, though, remains a mystery, although two scenarios are possible. The first is that the long neck might have permitted it to browse for foliage at a height not frequented by other prehistoric animals. The second is that males and females might have found the trait appealing, so it evolved due to sexual selection. Mateus and his team are leaning toward the latter, since having a long neck would have put the dinosaur at risk of predators, who would've had a better chance of fatally injuring -- even decapitating -- the dino. Throughout the animal kingdom then and now, however, members of the opposite sex often favor attributes, such as intense colors, long tails, exaggerated antlers "and, possibly, long necks," noted Mateus, even though these traits could reduce an individual's chances for survival. Louis Jacobs, director of the Shuler Museum of Paleontology at Southern Methodist University, told Discovery News that the new study "is quite interesting because it shows a body form, and by inference, an ecological diversity among stegosaurs that was not suspected before." Richard Butler, a Natural History Museum of London paleontologist, suggested that the newly found species livens up the otherwise rather predictable stegosaur image. Butler said, "This new discovery reveals a surprising...diversity among stegosaurs, which have generally been considered conservative animals." Related Links: |
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