New feathered dinosaur identified by Royal Ontario Museum, named after palaeolotologist Philip Currie

A latest study led by the scientists from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the Philip J Currie Dinosaur Museum has identified a bird-like feathered and toothy dinosaur in Alberta, Canada.

The species 'Albertavenator curriei' was named after Philip Currie, a renowned Canadian palaeolotologist and professor at the University of Alberta.

This type of dinosaur, a troodontid is one of Currie's favourite and he was really honoured after the species was named after his name.

Talking about the same Currie said, "This is a great honour … it's in fact an Alberta dinosaur and it's a type of dinosaur that I've worked on over the years, it's extra meaningful." 

"There's a lot of mystery surrounding troodontids; that's why I love them so much," Currie added.

A paper, published in the 'Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences' suggests that the creature used to roam around the Red Deer River Valley about 71 million years ago.

According to scientists the bird-like creature walks on two legs, and is coverred completely with feathers. The species seems to be weighed about 60kg and also have serrated teeth and a bit related with another dinosaur named velociraptor. Velociraptor was earlier made famous by much loved movie 'Jurassic Park.'

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Though initially it was thought to be the close relative of Troodon, later researchers have found that the new creature is a different one due to its shorter and more robust skull.

Troodon is said to be the cleverest of the dinosaurs because of the large size of its brain compared to its body.

"The delicate bones of these small feathered dinosaurs are very rare. We were lucky to have a critical piece of the skull that allowed us to distinguish Albertaventaor [Alberta hunter] as a new species," said David Evans, the author of the paper published in the Canadian journal.

"We hope to find a more complete skeleton of Albertavenator in the future, as this would tell us so much more about this fascinating animal," Evans stated further.

Thogh the fossilised remains of 'Albertavenator curriei' was found long back in the year 1980 near the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Ontario, scientists have identified the creature only in recent past.

Hence, the latest discovery suggests the re-examination of all museum collections yet another time.

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