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Pinocchio was smaller than T. rex but its nose was a
third longer - perhaps for a different hunting strategy
A new type of Tyrannosaur with a very
long nose has been nicknamed "Pinocchio rex".
The ferocious carnivore, nine metres long with a distinctive horny snout, was a cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex.
Its skeleton was dug up in a Chinese construction site and identified by scientists at Edinburgh University, UK.
The 66-million-year-old predator, officially named
Qianzhousaurus sinensis, is described in Nature Communications.
"Pinocchio" looked very different to other tyrannosaurs.
"It had the familiar toothy grin of T. rex, but its snout was long and slender, with a row of horns on top," said Edinburgh's Dr Steve Brusatte.
"It might have looked a little comical, but it would have been as deadly as any other tyrannosaur, and maybe even a little faster and stealthier.
"We thought it needed a nickname, and the long snout made us think of Pinocchio's long nose."
Researchers now think several different tyrannosaurs lived and hunted alongside each other in Asia during the late Cretaceous Period, the last days of the dinosaurs.
The enormous Tarbosaurus (up to 13m) had deep and powerful jaws like T. rex - strong enough to crush the bones of giant herbivores.
The thinner teeth and lighter skeleton of
Qianzhousaurus suggest it hunted smaller creatures, such as lizards and
feathered dinosaurs. But at nine metres tall and weighing almost a tonne, it was
still a gigantic carnivore.
"You wouldn't want to run into either of these guys," said Dr Brusatte.
'Weird features'
Pinocchio's snout was 35% longer than other dinosaurs of its size. So, why the long face?
"The truth is we don't know yet. But it must've been doing something different," Dr Brusatte told BBC News.
"The iconic picture of a tyrannosaur is T. Rex, the biggest, baddest dinosaur of all.
"But this new species was lighter, less muscular. It breaks the mould. Perhaps it had a faster bite and hunted in a different way."
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