Reaper dinosaur discovery reveals dino-diets

A giant 'reaper' dinosaur so called because it has huge claws shaped like a reaper's scythe has been unearthed by shocked scientists in the Utah Desert, who were there to dig up aquatic reptile bones. The discovery, published online today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, sheds new light on the evolution of some of the most well known dinosaurs.

Terrifying, flesh-eating dinosaurs such as Velociraptor - best known for as the villain in the Jurassic Park films - could actually have evolved from plant-munching herbivores, says Lindsay Zanno from the Field Museum, Chicago, who lead the team behind the discovery. They now believe this to be true because the dinosaur they unearthed - Northronychus graffami - was a herbivore, despite belonging to the same group of 'predatory' meat eaters as carnivorous beasts T. rex and Velociraptor.

By studying the feeding habits of a selection of these predatory' dinosaur species, Zanno concluded that incorporating plants into their diet might have given them the edge over competitors by making them adaptable to a wider range of food sources.

'We were able to use the anatomy of this animal as a template for researching the fragmentary remains of other therizinosaurs and gain a better understanding of their evolutionary history' says Zanno, which suggests that predatory villains' such as Velociraptor could have evolved from 'less fearsome plant-eating ancestors.'

Dave Graffam, who discovered the first bones and after whom the species is named, was especially surprised to find the creature as he was excavating marine rocks which would have been almost 100 miles from the nearest shore line. He believes the creature must have become 'stranded at sea and struggled for a few days before drowning and sinking to the bottom.' N. graffami's burial at sea made it easier to date the specimen, due to the presence of marine shellfish fossils, says palaeontologist Alan Titus who has dated the dinosaur to almost exactly 92.5 million years ago.