Scientists in Chile discover remains of plant-eating dinosaur

Paleontological studies suggest it lived during the Cretaceous period 66-80 million years ago

Scientists studying Chile's parched Atacama desert, the world's driest, have discovered the remains of a previously unknown species of dinosaur that millions of years ago lived among lush greenery in what is now a moonscape of rock and sand. A team led by Chilean geologist Carlos Arévalo unearthed the remains of Arackar licanantay, which means "Atacama bones" in the Kunza language, 75 kilometers south of the desert city ​​of Copiapó. The so-called titanosaur had a small head and long neck and tail, as well as an unusually flat back compared with others like it. Recent paleontological studies suggest Arackar lived amid flowering plants, ferns and palm trees during the Cretaceous period 66-80 million years ago. Parts of the Atacama today, by contrast, have gone without rain for one hundred years and support little plant or animal life.