Science Ancestor of T-Rex - researchers identify new dinosaur species
Researchers have identified a new dinosaur species based on newly analyzed bone finds from the 1970s. According to a recent study, it rewrites the family history of the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex.
12.06.2025, 07:14
SDA
According to the study published in the journal "Nature" on Wednesday, the graceful ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which weighed several tons, was only about four meters long and weighed just three quarters of a ton.
"It would have been the size of a very large horse," the co-author of the study, Darla Zelenitsky from the University of Calgary, told the AFP news agency. Because of its relatively small stature compared to the "king" Tyrannosaurus Rex, the researchers named the new species Khankhuuluu mongoliensis - which means "Dragon Prince of Mongolia".
The kochs were first unearthed in the early 1970s in south-eastern Mongolia. At that time, however, they were identified as coming from another tyrannosaur, Alectrosaurus. For half a century, the fossils were stored in the drawers of the Institute of Paleontology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in the capital Ulan Bator.
The "dragon prince" probably migrated from Asia to North America
They would probably still be gathering dust there if doctoral student Jared Voris hadn't stumbled across the drawers during a trip to the Central Asian country. When he began to rummage through them, he realized that something was wrong, said Zelenitsky.
It turned out that the bones were well-preserved partial skeletons of two different individuals of a completely new species. Zelenitsky said that the discovery "helped us to clarify a lot about the family tree of the tyrannosaur group", at the end of which stands the T-Rex. This "family history" had previously been "very confusing".
According to the researchers, the "dragon prince" probably migrated from Asia to North America, using the land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska. This led to the spread of tyrannosaurs across North America.
