Paleontologists have finally found a species dinosaur adapted to aquatic conditions, i.e. capable of swimming and diving. The animal, about one meter long, lived in the Mongolia prehistoric about 71 million years ago and looked very different from that of its relative, the Velociraptor. The swimmer’s jaw is long and full of tiny teeth.
This feature earned the dinosaur the name of Natovenator polydontus, the “many-toothed swimming hunter”. The bones of this new species were found in the Gobi Desert, a place widely known for the preservation of several species of dinosaurs and other ancient life forms.
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According to Seoul National University paleontologist Sungjin Lee, “We realized it was something special because [a ossada] it was beautifully preserved with a nice skull and an extremely long neck. As experts analyzed the fossil, the structure appeared to share some characteristics with another species, Halszkaraptor, which was initially thought to be a swimming dinosaur.
This similarity further increased the caution when examining the Natovenator. This is how the researchers determined that it was a swimming dinosaur. The next step will be to understand what an animal’s physical appearance and behavior was like under these conditions. According to the paleontologist of the Natural Science Museum of Argentina, Federico Agnolin, who was not involved in the study, “despite the not entirely conclusive evidence, I think that some anatomical details of the Natovenator are good indicators that the animal was probably aquatic.” .
The long jaw and many tiny teeth may be an adaptation for consuming small, slithering, or water-writhing prey, and Natovenator’s preserved ribs are oriented backwards, similar to those of penguins and auks, which likely gave them allowed to swim better. This configuration has not been seen in any other dinosaur.
Some dinosaurs, like the large Spinosaurus, eventually swam. Spinosaurus had dense bones and its jaws were crocodilian-like, which may suggest a search for food in the water. However, Natovenator appears to have specific adaptations related to movement through water.
Researchers believe Natovenator swam with its forelimbs in a primitive version of what animals like penguins do. Future biomechanical studies will surely address this issue. It remains to wait for new results on the subject and, who knows, the appearance of new species.
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