Velociraptor's new cousin is a raptor unlike any seen before

National Geographic

7 days ago

Shri rapax had bigger claws and potentially a stronger bite than its Hollywood relative. But paleontologists still don't know the whereabouts of its head, which went missing. The newly named raptor Shri rapax was smuggled by poachers, rescued from the black market, and then, sometime following a CT-scan in 2016, its skull went missing. Photograph by Thierry Hubin, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Sometime before 2010, in the red sands of Mongolia's Gobi Desert brimming with fossils, poachers excavated and stole the exquisite skeleton of a carnivorous dinosaur.
They smuggled the fossil out of the country and onto the black market. It passed through private collections in Japan and England and was eventually acquired by the French fossil company Eldonia. In 2016, one of the fossil's owners had the dinosaur's skull and four vertebrae CT-scanned at a Belgian museum, but sometime later the head and neck went missing. Their whereabouts remain unknown to scientists. Negotiations between the fossil company, paleontologists, and government officials led to the return of the dinosaur's body to Mongolia, where it could be cared for and studied, a raptor unlike any seen before.
Now, this headless, extra-sharp relative of Velociraptor finally has a name: Shri rapax.
The roughly six-foot-long, turkey-sized dinosaur wandered a prehistoric desert more than 71 million years ago. Like Velociraptor, which was also found in Mongolia, Shri is a dromaeosaur. This predatory dinosaur group includes Deinonychus, Utahraptor, and other feathery carnivores with large, hyperextendable claws on their second toes.
"I was so surprised to find such an unexpected dromaeosaur in the same geological setting of the iconic Velociraptor," says Andrea Cau an independent paleontologist from Italy.
Cau and his colleagues published a paper on July 13 in the journal Historical Biology describing the new species. The discovery is part of a growing number of raptor-like dinosaurs found in Mongolia, revealing an unexpected diversity of species and body types in this group, such as the goose-necked and slender Halszkaraptor escuilliei and Natovenator polydontus. This cast was created from a CT-scan of the dinosaur's skull that was conducted in 2016. The real fossilized skull's location is still a mystery to scientists. Photograph by Thierry Hubin, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Shri rapax's claws were larger than the claws that its famous relative, Velociraptor, had on its hands. Photograph by Thierry Hubin, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Despite its close relationship to the Hollywood-famous Velociraptor, Shri was a very different dinosaur. A cast of its skull, which was made based off the 2016 CT-scan as the actual fossil skull is still missing, indicates Shri had a deeper and shorter snout. The finding hints that this raptor had a stronger bite than its relative.
"Other differences, such as a relatively short snout, proportionally long neck, and short tail indicate that these two relatives had different ecological preferences," says Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig, a paleontologist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and a coauthor of the study.
Its arm bones are more robust and stockier, tipped with large, curved claws. It also had stout hands that imply a strong grip. Precisely how Shri used its arms and claws is unclear, though the researchers suggest it may have grappled with and grasped other dinosaurs like the horned herbivore Protoceratops. Bitten Protoceratops bones and a famous fossil of Velociraptor and Protoceratops locked in fossil combat, called the "Fighting Dinosaurs," hint that the pig-like horned dinosaurs were prey for dromaeosaurs like Shri.
Michael Pittman, a paleontologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who was not involved in the research, says the authors' hypothesis is reasonable, and that biomechanical studies of the dinosaur's arms can potentially test the idea. He also calls the specimen, "beautiful and well-preserved."
The likelihood Shri rapax and Velociraptor lived alongside each other points to a phenomenon called "niche partitioning." Closely related species can sometimes share the same landscape when they have different dietary preferences and behaviors, like how the island of Madagascar hosts many different lemur species that live in different habitats and eat different foods.
Evolving different specializations allow related animals to divide habitats in different ways, boosting biodiversity. In the case of the dinosaurs, the anatomical differences between Shri and Velociraptor indicate that the carnivores were likely also part of such an ecological interplay. Returning Shri rapax home
Because Shri's skeleton was poached and sold with no geological information, paleontologists are unsure exactly from where the dinosaur was excavated, beyond its clear origin from Mongolia's Djadokhta Formation. The fact that scientists have been able to study, describe, and begin to understand Shri rapax is a victory for paleontology and an effort to push back against black market fossil dealings.
"This case highlights yet another instance of fossil poaching," Chinzorig says, "part of a long-standing pattern of illegal smuggling of fossils from the Mongolian Gobi over the decades."
It's essential that such fossils are returned, Chinzorig says, both to build scientific knowledge about the prehistoric past and to respect Mongolia's fossil heritage. If the smuggled fossil had remained in private hands, scientists would not know this new dinosaur, its relationships, or anything about the role it played in its prehistoric ecosystem.
"Scientific value aside," Cau adds, "I am really happy to give some help in returning these dinosaurs home." And by introducing Shri rapax to the world, the paleontologists may, with luck, help return its missing head home.