An international team of paleontologists has unearthed a new dinosaur from the Gobi Desert that looks like a cross between a toothy penguin and a goose. The scientists found a nearly complete skeleton of this previously unknown non-avian dinosaur in southern Mongolia, within the Barun Goyot Formation. The fossil included a skull, vertebral column, one forelimb, and two hind limbs. It lived about 71 million years ago during the late Cretaceous period (145–66 million years ago). The researchers named it Natovenator polydontus, which translates to “hunter with many teeth that swims.”
Natovenator bore a striking resemblance to modern diving birds, such as loons and penguins, according to Newsweek. Yong-Nam Lee, the team leader and a professor at Seoul National University, said the skeleton was fragile but remarkably complete. The dinosaur had a skull filled with tiny teeth and an exceptionally long neck. The shape of its ribcage and the curved ribs that angle toward the tail suggest a streamlined body, much like a penguin’s. Professor Lee said a body like that has not been documented in non-avian dinosaurs before.
The animal was likely no more than 40 centimeters tall. Professor Lee noted that only about ten percent of small specimens from that period are preserved this well. Artistic reconstructions show a diving dinosaur with a goose-like body and a beak full of small teeth. Paleontologists think it lived in shallow water and fed on small fish. Fish-eating animals typically have small, pointed teeth that help them catch and hold prey before swallowing it. To learn more about its diet, the team analyzed fossilized stomach contents attributed to Natovenator polydontus. They also suggested it might have eaten insects.
Despite its bird-like appearance, this creature was a reptile: a theropod — a two-legged carnivorous dinosaur. That group includes well-known species such as T. rex. However, Natovenator is the first known theropod with a streamlined body shape, indicating it could move on land and maneuver through water. The fossil provides paleontologists with insights into how the dinosaur lived and hunted. Based on its body shape and similarities to modern diving birds, researchers concluded it was a semi-aquatic predator.
Professor Lee said the discovery expands our view of dinosaur diversity and lifestyles. Until now, scientists thought only avian dinosaurs had adapted to aquatic environments; this finding shows some non-avian dinosaurs also thrived in water.
In a report for the journal Communications Biology, the researchers wrote that Natovenator polydontus lived in freshwater environments rather than the open sea. During the late Cretaceous, the Barun Goyot Formation hosted fish, crocodiles, turtles, and dinosaurs. The most famous fossil found there is Velociraptor. That dinosaur, familiar from films like Jurassic Park, was about the size of a turkey and lived on land around the same time as Natovenator.
The paleontological team says further research is needed to determine this species’ diet and lifestyle more precisely.
