Newly Discovered Dinosaur One-Pager

In 2008, a team of paleontologists found the fossil of a dinosaur never before found in the United States in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. This dinosaur, the Akainacephalus johnsoni, is similar to a species previously found in North America but identical to fossils found in Asia. 

After 4 years of preparing the bones, the paleontologists spent time studying them. They found they were armored dinosaurs with spikes on their head and a club on the end of their tails. Surprisingly, these traits had only been seen in this dinosaur in fossils in Asia, and the ones in North America were lacking spiked heads.

Scientists concluded that the dinosaurs had lived on Laramidia, one of the two continents that formed North America when the sea levels fell. In theory, the dinosaurs would have crossed over Beringia from Asia to Laramidia sea levels were lower.

This fossil offers us important insight into what the world and environment were like millions of years ago. It tells us about ecosystems, sea levels, and adaptations of species. Because history often repeats itself geographically, it is important for us to know what happens to North America when sea levels rise, and this fossil tells us more about that too.

One thing I disagreed with in the article was that there were at least two immigration events. Really, I believe there only had to be one because the dinosaurs in Asia and those in North America could have been two totally different species and the Asian ones came over. Or, both species could have originally lived in North America and one species could have moved to Asia. I therefore only see the need for one immigration event.

To see the original article on CNN by Ashley Strickland, go to https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/us/new-armored-dinosaur-fossil/index.html .