Life restoration of Ubirajara jubatus. Image credit: Bob Nicholls, paleocreations.com.
SciNews has a story about a new dinosaur from Brazil. The animal, named Ubirajara jubatus, lived about 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period in what is now Brazil. It was about the size of a chicken. This dinosaur was collected from the famous Crato Formation in Northeastern Brazil. It has been described in a paper in the journal Cretaceous Research.
Named Ubirajara jubatus, the ancient animal was chicken-sized with a mane of long fur down its back.
It also had long, flat, stiff shoulder ribbons of keratin, each with a small sharp ridge running along the middle. Its arms were covered in fur-like filaments down to the hands.
“What is especially unusual about the beast is the presence of two very long, probably stiff ribbons on either side of its shoulders that were probably used for display, for mate attraction, inter-male rivalry or to frighten off foe,” said co-author Professor David Martill, a paleontologist in the School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences at the University of Portsmouth.
“We cannot prove that the specimen is a male, but given the disparity between male and female birds, it appears likely the specimen was a male, and young, too, which is surprising given most complex display abilities are reserved for mature adult males.”
“Given its flamboyance, we can imagine that the dinosaur may have indulged in elaborate dancing to show off its display structures.”
Ubirajara jubatus’ mane is thought to have been controlled by muscles allowing it to be raised, in a similar way a dog raises its hackles or a porcupine raises its spines when threatened.
