A newly discovered species of
Tyrannosaur - the group of meat-eating dinosaurs to which the infamous
T. rex belongs - could hold the key to how these creatures grew so huge.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh, along with US and
Russian colleagues, discovered the fossilised remains of the animal in
Uzbekistan. They have named it Timurlengia.
A study of the 90-million-year-old beast suggested its ears and brain were crucial in Tyrannosaurs' dominance.
"We have a totally new species of dinosaur," explained lead researcher Dr Stephen Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh.
"It's one of the very closest cousins of T. rex, but a lot smaller - about the size of a horse.
"And it comes from the middle part of the Cretaceous period - a point where we have a huge gap in the fossil record."
This "frustrating" gap has made T. rex - which was found later in the period and was up to 13m head to tail - something of an evolutionary mystery. That is what this find has helped to resolve.read more on bbc link=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35806780
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