A replica of one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered is unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History on January 14, 2016 in New York City. (Photo : Getty Images/ Spencer Platt)
There is a dinosaur species in Argentina that probably did not want itself from being found. This is quite evident from the misery and the trouble that the research team had to go through after discovering the fossils.
According to a recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers discovered the fossil of a new two-fingered dinosaur in rural Argentina. The team has named the strange species of dinosaur "Gualicho," which means misfortune and is used as a local word for curse.
This is indeed true. The scientists found themselves surrounded by misfortune once they dug the fossils. From a serious truck accident to bureaucratic interference, there is a list of troubles that the team had to go through after the discovery.
Co-author of a study, Sebastián Apesteguía of the Azara Foundation, said that if bad luck or misfortune befalls on anyone, the local population says that somebody has made a "gualicho" on the concerned person. Apesteguía further said in the study that the dinosaur fossils recently discovered has been the most difficult one to work on so far.
Gualicho was a carnivorous dinosaur that existed during the Late Cretaceous period, according to USA Today. It was "reasonably speedy" because of its posture and comfortably stood on a set of two slender legs. According to the research team, the dinosaur would have easily towered a six-feet tall human and weighed as much as a Clydesdale.
The fossils further suggest that the Gualicho had short arms - roughly as long as that of a child - and primarily relies on its strong jaws to grip and grab its prey. The analysis of the dinosaur family tree reveals that Gualicho lies on a separate branch as that of T. Rex and its companions. That explains why the latter had stumpy arms, as compared to the puny ones in Gualicho.
But discovering the fossil in the first place was not easy for the team. It took at least eight years of persuasion to finally make the suspicious landowner in northwestern Argentina agree to let the scientists explore his sheep ranch. During the excavation, one of the researchers' truck flipped down the road. No one was hurt, but the truck was left in a devastated condition.
After the fossil was recovered, the research team was denied access to it for several years by the local authorities. It took elections and then selection of the new political regime for the researchers to finally gain access to what they discovered years ago.
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