By Fabian Cambero
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Scientists in Chile’s parched Atacama Desert, the world’s driest, have discovered the remains of a previously unknown dinosaur species that lived millions of years ago among lush greenery in what is now a lunar landscape of rocks and sand.
A team led by Chilean geologist Carlos Arévalo has excavated the remains of Arackar licanantay, which means “Atacama bones” in the Kunza language, 75 kilometers south of the desert city of Copiapó. The so-called titanosaur had a small head and a long neck and tail, and an unusually flat back compared to other similar ones.
Recent paleontological studies suggest that Arackar lived among flowering plants, ferns and palm trees during the Cretaceous Period 66-80 million years ago. Parts of the Atacama, on the other hand, have been without rain for a hundred years and support little plant or animal life.
The discovery of a titanosaurus on the west side of the Andes Mountains in South America is rare, although several species have been found in Argentina and Brazil further east.
The dinosaur’s remains were first discovered in the 1990s and described by the scientists in the journal Cretaceous Research.
Arackar also appears smaller compared to some other titanosaurs. Discovered on the eastern side of the Andes in neighboring Argentina, the Argentinosaurus was more than four times as long, scientists say.
The remains of the dinosaur will eventually be exhibited at the Natural History Museum of Chile, although that is currently closed due to restrictions due to the coronavirus.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero, written by Dave Sherwood, edited by Ed Osmond)