Turkey-sized dinosaur identified as the first to eat fruit
The 66-million-year-old Infernogallus jamesi had no teeth and a parrot-like head.
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
Scientists have found fossils of a toothless, turkey-sized dinosaur with a parrot-like head, adapted to a diet specialized in fruit. According to Folha, in a Reuters text, the find was described in a paper published on the 10th in the journal Nature Communications.
Named Infernogallus jamesi, it is the first known fruit-eating dinosaur and lived about 66 million years ago. Its fossils were found in Montana and North Dakota, in the United States.
The name means "hell chicken," a reference to its bird-like appearance and to the Hell Creek rock formation, where the remains appeared. The formation spans four US states and has already revealed other famous dinosaurs.
The characteristics of the beak and jaws allowed it to crush soft foods such as fruit. The animal would have fed on them and on other soft plants, in the same environment as giants such as Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops and Ankylosaurus.