Dinosaur with scissor-like claws roamed Britain 168 million years ago

Mysterious ancient teeth found in three English counties are believed to belong to a scissor-like clawed dinosaur that roamed Britain 168 million years ago.

Paleontologists said the fossils excavated in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset were the first examples of therizinosaurs and troodontids on British soil.

Not only that, but the remains are the world’s oldest known evidence of those species and could represent some of the earliest bird relatives ever discovered.

Therizinosaurus – which featured in the most recent Jurassic World movie – was a large herbivorous dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period known for its distinctive long scissor-like claw bones.

Along with the troodontid and the well-known Velociraptor, he belonged to a group of ancient creatures called the maniraptorans.

Paleontologists said the fossilized teeth unearthed in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset were the first examples of therizinosaurs and troodontids on British soil. Pictured are the troodontid teeth discovered at Hornsleasow Quarry in Gloucestershire

Known to be among the closest relatives of modern birds, these dinosaurs evolved into numerous species during the Middle Jurassic period.

However, because fossils are scarce today, knowledge about their origins is scarce.

The mysterious teeth — some of which were found as far back as the 1970s and others more recently — were identified using groundbreaking machine learning techniques performed by researchers at the Natural History Museum and Birkbeck College.

“Previous research had suggested that the maniraptorans lived in the Middle Jurassic, but the actual fossil evidence was fragmentary and disputed,” said lead researcher Simon Wills, a doctoral student at the Natural History Museum.

“Together with fossils found elsewhere, this research suggests that the group had already achieved global distribution by then.

‘The teeth we analyzed comprise what are currently the only troodontid and therizinosaur fossils ever recorded in the UK and are the oldest evidence of these dinosaurs anywhere in the world.’

While previous studies have attempted to classify isolated teeth by various statistical methods, they have not always been particularly successful.

That’s why the experts behind the new research have been working to improve machine learning tools like the ones they used.

The mysterious teeth were identified using groundbreaking machine learning techniques conducted by researchers at the Natural History Museum and Birkbeck College. Pictured are the troodontid teeth discovered at Hornsleasow Quarry in Gloucestershire

The remains are the world’s oldest known evidence of those species and could represent some of the earliest bird relatives ever discovered. Pictured is Woodeaton in Oxfordshire, where some of the teeth analyzed were found

This map shows where the teeth were found in Woodeaton, Oxfordshire, Hornsleasow, Gloucestershire and Watton Cliff, Dorset

“The use of machine learning in vertebrate paleontology is still in its infancy, although its use is growing,” said Wills.

‘The biggest drawback is the need for an extensive training dataset from which the models can learn.

‘In our research we are fortunate that a relatively large dataset of dinosaur tooth measurements is already available with which we can train the models.’

To use the machine learning technique, researchers first had to create a 3D model of each tooth using CT scanning so that the AI ​​could interpret the fossil information.

While previous studies have attempted to classify isolated teeth by various statistical methods, they have not always been particularly successful. Pictured is the Hornsleasow Quarry in Gloucestershire, where some of the teeth were found

To translate the information in the fossils into data that can be used in the machine learning models, the researchers first had to create a 3D model of each tooth based on CT scanning. Pictured is Watton Cliff in Dorset, where some of the analyzed teeth were found

This had to be done because the teeth were so small that measuring by hand was impractical.

The measurements of thousands of teeth from known dinosaur species were then used to train three different machine learning models, combining the results from each to give the most likely identity of each tooth.

Researchers said that with continued technological innovations, it’s likely that machine learning will be used more often to help answer more paleontological mysteries.

The research has been published in the journal Papers in Paleontology.

KILLING THE DINOSAURS: HOW A CITY-SIZED ASTEROID DISTRIBUTED 75 PERCENT OF ALL ANIMALS AND PLANT SPECIES

About 66 million years ago, non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out, wiping out more than half of all species on Earth.

This mass extinction paved the way for the emergence of mammals and the appearance of humans.

The asteroid Chicxulub is often cited as a possible cause of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.

The asteroid slammed into a shallow sea in what is now the Gulf of Mexico.

The impact released a huge cloud of dust and soot that caused global climate change and wiped out 75 percent of all animal and plant species.

Researchers argue that the soot needed for such a global catastrophe could only have come from a direct impact on rocks in shallow waters around Mexico, which are particularly rich in hydrocarbons.

Within 10 hours of the impact, a massive tsunami swept through the Gulf Coast, experts believe.

About 66 million years ago, non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out, wiping out more than half of all species on Earth. The asteroid Chicxulub is often cited as a possible cause of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event (stock image)

This caused earthquakes and landslides in areas as far as Argentina.

While investigating the event, researchers found small particles of rock and other debris that were shot into the air when the asteroid crashed.

Called spherules, these tiny particles covered the planet in a thick layer of soot.

Experts explain that the loss of light from the sun caused a complete collapse of the water system.

This is because the phytoplankton base of almost all aquatic food chains would have been eliminated.

It is believed that the more than 180 million years of evolution that brought the world to the point of the Cretaceous Period was destroyed in less than the lifespan of a Tyrannosaurus rex, which is about 20 to 30 years.