World’s First Swimming Dinosaur

Many species of dinosaurs have been discovered at Hermiin Tsav in the Gobi Desert over the years, but now there is something new to describe: the first swimming dinosaur.

The creature was not a giant but a foot-long streamlined beast, with long jaws full of tiny teeth. The theropod, or hollow-bodied dinosaur, had three toes and claws on each limb and swam in prehistoric Mongolia 145 to 66 million years ago when there were lakes and rivers. Seoul National University paleontologist Sungjin Lee and colleagues have named the dinosaur Natovenator polydontus, the “many-toothed swimming hunter.”

Although Natovenator was a “non-avian” dinosaur, it looked like a nightmarish version of a diving duck, if the artist’s reconstruction of the species can be believed.  “In the case of the Natovenator,” the researchers describe in the journal Communications Biology, “the elongated neck might have aided in catching prey rather than in reducing impact because it is unlikely to be able to fly.”

More than a thousand dinosaur species have been discovered and described around the world, but until now there haven’t been any swimmers. This could be because aquatic habitats are not so conducive to fossil formation.

Photo credit: Yusik Choi /  Communications Biology