Scientists have discovered two new dinosaurs in England and they also gave them the coolest dinosaur names since the Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor: the Hell Heron and the Riverbank Hunter.
This news comes by way of LiveScience.com, which reports that these two dinosaurs were carnivores with crocodile-like skulls that lived along the riverbanks of England's Isle of Wight. This information is based on new fossils discovered on the riverbanks of the isle.
"We've known for a couple of decades now that the Baryonyx-like dinosaurs awaited discovery on the Isle of Wight, but finding the remains of two such animals in close succession was a huge surprise," British paleontologist Darren Naish, said in a statement following the discovery of these fossils.
The scientists that discovered the fossils believe the carnivorous dinosaurs to be an earlier species of Spinosaurids, which are relatives of the Spinosaurus. The Ceratosuchops inferodios, aka the Hell Heron, was discovered by way of a few skull fragments while their riverbank-stalking buddy (ok, so they probably weren't actually buddies but real respects real, right?), the Riparovenator milnerae, aka the Riverbank Hunter, was discovered via some skull and tailbone fragments.
LiveScience reports that these two dinosaur species likely lived about 125 million years ago, which places them in the Cretaceous period. This means they lived about 25 million years before their more-famous relative, the Spinosaurus (although with names like Hell Heron and Riverbank Hunter, who knows how much longer the Spinosaurus will remain more popular).
Both the Hell Heron and the Riverbank Hunter grew to be about 29.5 feet long, or 9 meters long, and this was determined based on the 3.3-foot size of their skulls, according to LiveScience.
For more about dinosaurs, check out this story about a T.rex and a Triceratops locked in the same fossil and then read about these two new gigantic dinosaurs discovered in China. Check out this story about how scientists have determined the likely origin of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs after that.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer, science guru, and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
Header Image Credit: Anthony Hutchings — "Artists impressions of the Spinosaurids. Ceratosuchops inferodios in the foreground, Riparovenator milnerae in the background." — https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/801613