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Original caption:
The official Discover Bihor (http://www.discoverbihor.com) short movie, made by Brothers M, for the request of Bihor Destination Management Agency.
It’s Halloween Right? Let’s fly through limestone mountains and valleys of Transylvania
Somehow, mid-October seems a good time to share a 25 minute clip biking through Transylvania
earthstory reblogged
Caves and ash layers in Mures County in Transylvania, Romania.
This is lovely - early spring snow and drive, Transylvania
Magyarosaurus
Name: Magyarosaurus dacus Meaning: Magyar (Hungarian) Lizard Diet: Herbivore Size: 6m long and 2m high Lived: 70-66 mya
Magyarosaurus dacus was one of the smallest sauropod (if not the smallest) at just 6 meters long and 2 meters tall. For a human that would still be big enough to feel intimidated, but being a close cousin of Argentinosaurus, Magyarosaurus was a dwarf. The first bones of this dinosaur were discovered in 1895, by the sister of Franz Baron Nopcsa (Pronounced Nopcha) on their family state in Transylvannia. At the time, the region was under the control of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Nopcsa gave the dinosaur its name because of his home country of Hungary (Magyar means Hungarian in Hungarian).
With the discovery, Nopcsa had a gut feeling that this dinosaur was a dwarf and not just a juvenile. Dwarfism seems to happen when species get isolated in small islands or regions were food is scarce. By reducing their body mass, animals reduce the amount of food intake and therefore adapt to a smaller and less abundant environments. At that time however, it was only and idea.
Thanks to the improvement of technology and our understanding of natural sciences, today we can actually tell if there is dwarfism present or not, and sometimes even from a dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago. By cutting and studying the microstructure of bones, scientists were able to notice that all the processes that happen inside a bone during the lifetime of an organism were present in the Magyarosar bones. This, and evidence that the region was indeed an island (Hateg Island) during the late Cretaceous, is a good amount of evidence to theorize this species was indeed a dwarf (still bigger than a horse!) dinosaur.
BLEB
PS: I will be covering more dinosaurs in the upcoming days , if you have a favorite dinosaur or one that was discovered near your city, state or country and want it featured, let me know in the comments below!
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