Fruit-Eating Dinosaurs Discovered

Paleontologists have made a new discovery in the United States, uncovering the remains of an ancient creature roughly the size of a turkey that stood out for its feathers and unusual feeding behavior. A well-preserved skull and other fossilized bones were found in the famous Hell Creek Formation in the northwestern United States. The research was carried out jointly by specialists from Stony Brook University, the Royal Ontario Museum and the North Dakota Geological Survey.

The creature belonged to a family of toothless, feathered caenagnathids and lived during the Cretaceous period alongside famous dinosaurs such as tyrannosaurs and Triceratops. The bird-like animal weighed about 12 kilograms. Using computed tomography, researchers were able to reconstruct the internal structure of its skull in detail. They found that its palatal bones curved downward toward the oral cavity, while the muscles controlling the beak were arranged very differently from those of typical dinosaurs.

This structure allowed the beak not only to open and close but also to move forward and backward. Paleontologists believe the unusual skull anatomy may have helped the animal process soft fruits, crush them and remove their seeds. The feature suggests that the dinosaur’s feeding behavior may have been similar to that of modern parrots.