Natovenator polydontus: A goose-necked dinosaur from Mongolia, built like a diving bird

Source: The post is based on the article “Natovenator polydontus: A goose-necked dinosaur from Mongolia, built like a diving bird” published in Indian Express on 3rd December 2022.

What is the News?

Scientists have discovered a dinosaur fossil in Mongolia that was likely a semi-aquatic diving predator. This dinosaur has been named as Natovenator polydontus.

What is Natovenator polydontus?

Natovenator polydontus is a semi-aquatic diving dinosaur that lived about 72 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.

Features: It was built like a diving bird with a streamlined body while possessing a goose-like elongated neck and a long flattened snout with a mouth bearing more than 100 small teeth. It almost surely was covered in feathers.

– Natovenator was adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle in a freshwater ecosystem, perhaps floating on rivers and lakes, paddling with its front limbs and using its flexible neck to catch fish and insects or diving underwater to capture its prey.