When we think about finding a new kind of dinosaur, we often picture people digging in the ground. But an early relative of Tyrannosaurus rex was found in a much easier way. Its name is Khankhuuluu mongoliensis. And it was sitting in a museum, waiting to be found. University of Calgary PhD student Jared Voris noticed that the bone fragments he was looking at in a Mongolian museum resembled those of a T. rex. But they were labeled Alectrosaurus. The fossils he was looking at were found in the 1970s. They were smaller than a T. rex. They were dated to about 20 million years before T. rexes roamed the Earth. "He thought this was a new species," Darla Zelenitsky told the BBC. She is Voris’ advisor. It turns out Voris was right. Zelenitsky and Voris published their findings in the journal Nature. They described the new species as an early tyrannosaurid. They describe it as a “really small, fleet-footed predator that lived in the shadows of other apex predatory dinosaurs.” Its scientific name translates to “Dragon Prince of Mongolia.” The name “Prince” is a nod to the T. rex, whose full name means "terrible lizard king." Khankhuuluu was armed with a strong, snapping jaw. It weighed about 1,600 pounds. That's an eighth of what a T. rex might weigh. "It has helped us revise the tyrannosaur family tree," Zelenitsky told the BBC. She added that it also helps "rewrite what we know about the evolution of tyrannosaurs." Reflect: What’s a time when learning a new fact made you see a familiar topic in a different way? Photo of artist’s impression of Khankhuuluu mongoliensis courtesy of University of Calgary.
