This 70-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Looked Like a Raptor, but May Have Fished Like a Heron
A newly discovered dinosaur, Kank australis, lived 70 million years ago in southern Patagonia and exhibited unique hunting behaviors. Unlike typical raptors, Kank is believed to have fished like a heron, using specialized neck structures for striking at water. This finding challenges previous assumptions about raptor behavior and adds complexity to the dinosaur family tree.
- ▪Kank australis lived 70 million years ago and is from the unenlagiids family of theropod dinosaurs.
- ▪Its specialized neck structures suggest it hunted fish, contrasting with the common portrayal of raptors as terrestrial predators.
- ▪Fossils of Kank were found alongside fish remains, indicating that fish were likely a primary part of its diet.
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Picture a Velociraptor. Chances are, it's running, jaws open, claws out, closing in on something smaller and slower. Now picture one standing perfectly still at the edge of a river, neck coiled, watching the water. That's Kank australis.A newly described dinosaur from southern Patagonia, K. australis or Kank, lived 70 million years ago, and its bones suggest it hunted like a heron, not like a raptor is supposed to. The findings, published this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, add a strange new creature to the dinosaur family tree and challenge the way we think about what raptors could be.“This suggests Kank may have been an active fisher, contrasting with common portrayal of raptors as agile terrestrial predators, like Velociraptor from the Northern Hemisphere,” lead author…
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