“Balaur might be one of the largest predators in this ecosystem because not even a big tooth has been found in Romania after over a hundred years of research,” paleontologist Zoltan Csiki of the University of Bucharest in Romania said in a press release. Csiki is the lead researcher of the discovery announced Aug. 30 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new dinosaur was about 6 to 7 feet long. It had functional big toes with large claws — presumably for slashing prey — in addition to a claw on the second toe that is typical of the group of dinosaurs. Its feet and legs were short and stocky, with bones fused together, and large muscle attachment areas on its pelvis, indicating the dinosaur was built for strength over speed. Its hands were atrophied, so Balaur likely used its feet rather than its hands to grasp prey.

“Its anatomy shows that it probably hunted in a different way than its less stocky relatives,” said paleontologist Stephan Brusatte of Columbia University in a press release. “Compared to Velociraptor, Balaur was probably more of a kick boxer than a sprinter, and it might have been able to take down larger animals than itself, as many carnivores do today.”

During the era that Balaur lived, sea levels were so high that much of Europe was under water and Romania was an island. Dinosaurs evolved there in relative isolation, with the occasional exchange of creatures between there and mainland Asia, says Csiki. Some of the other dinosaurs that have been found there from this time are dwarf sauropods the size of cows and tiny duck-billed dinosaurs.

According to Csiki, fragmentary remains of Balaur were already known for more than 10 years, but the morphology was so bizarre that scientists didn’t know how to fit them together.

Read More : www.wired.com

Mount Sinabung in the north of Sumatra began erupting around midnight after rumbling for several days and lava was overflowing its crater, Surono, head of Indonesia’s vulcanology center, told Reuters. The volcano had been placed on red level, the highest alert.

“Despite decreasing activities since the eruption, we haven’t downgraded the status level,” said Surono, who goes by one name, like many Indonesians.

“This is the first time since 1600 that Sinabung erupted and we have little knowledge in terms on its eruptive patterns and general forms.”

Authorities evacuated at least 12,000 people from high risk areas on the slopes of the 2,460-meter volcano to temporary shelters. The area around the volcano is largely agricultural.

The Health Ministry put health posts on standby and distributed face masks, though there were no reports of casualties, according to Mudjiarto, head of the health ministry’s crisis center.

The nearest big city to the volcano is Medan and there were no disruptions to flights.

Indonesia is located on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and geological fault lines surrounding the Pacific Basin.

Via: reuters

The midday sun is reflected from the surface of the ridges along the western coast of the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.

Seagulls are sitting on an iceberg in the fjord near Ilulissat .

The ship cuts through the melting ice in the Ilulissat fjord .

Arctic Tern lands on a fence at Ny-Ålesund

American submarine “resting” by swimming 0.9 m in the Arctic Ocean

Ilulissat ice fjord in Greenland

Icebergs are separated from Icelandic glacier Vatnayekyudl before you sail into the sea .

It has a little bit different body construction than other chicks on this farm, its wings are shorter and it reportedly newer attempted to fly.

This chicken which was named Mumble has became very famous in neighborhood of Chinese farmer Lu xi who is the lucky owner.