
The Overoraptor chimentoi was a dinosaur with mixed characteristics of birds and raptors
An article published in the journal “Science of Nature” reports the identification of a new species of dinosaur with characteristics similar to birds that lived about 90 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period, in today’s Patagonia, Argentina. A team of researchers led by Matias Motta named it Overoraptor chimentoi, a name that reminds more of predatory dinosaurs than birds. In fact, some of its characteristics are typical of that type of dinosaur, with legs suitable for running and a claw similar to that of Velociraptor on its second toe. Instead, its arms have characteristics much closer to bird wings, and this suggests that it’s one of the species closest to birds among the various known raptors.