Dinosaur - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

1)   Fossils of Dinosaur skulls in the midwestern US have revealed two new species of unusual horned Dinosaurs- Machairoceratops cronusi, and  Spiclypeus shipporum,- what is the latter’s nickname?

a. Judith
b. Meredith
c. Helen
d. None of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Judith

Explanation:
Fossils of dinosaur skulls unearthed in Midwestern United States have revealed two new species namely Machairoceratops cronusi, and Spiclypeus shipporum.

  • The latter also nicknamed Judith after the Montana Judith River geological formation is close to 76 million years old and was part of the Chasmosaurine family -- which includes the famous Triceratops -- and had "horns over the eyes, which stuck out sideways from the skull.
  • This is a new addition to the family of horned dinosaurs that roamed western North America between 85 and 66 million years ago. Spiclypeus, however, appears to be unique to Montana.
  • Its name is combination of two Latin words meaning "spiked shield," and shipporum is a nod to the man who found the fossil on his land, Bill Shipp.
  • Another horned dinosaur uncovered in the Wahweap Formation in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah was adorned with two spikes rising out of its neck shield.
  • This one, newly named Machairoceratops cronusi, lived around 77 million years ago and weighed one to two tons. Its skull features showed it was unlike any previously known centrosaurine, a subfamily of ceratopsids which were characterized by parrot-like beaks, facial horns and ornate neck shields.


2)   Scientists have found new dinosaur remains in a remote part of which region that might reveal a "lost world" of many different kinds of arctic dinosaur?

a. Alaska
b. Tundra
c. Arctic
d. None of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Alaska

Explanation:
The skeleton belongs to a newly-discovered species of duck-billed dinosaur, which was 30-feet long and lived through months of winter darkness and probably snow. It is the dinosaur with the most northernmost habitat ever found known as Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis. Discovery indicates a new world of dinosaurs that could live in snowy conditions and contended with months of darkness.The researchers estimate that there could be at least 13 different dinosaur present in the area — and will now continue to research to find out how they lived in regions that scientists had previously thought to be uninhabitable for reptilian dinosaurs.The new dinosaur is closely related to Edmontosaurus, another duck-billed dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago.


3)   Name the city that holds the world record for largest number of dinosaur eggs and has added to its collection after dozens more were unearthed at a construction site?

a. Pondicherry
b. Heyuan
c. Berlin
d. Sao Paolo
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Heyuan

Explanation:
A nest containing 43 dinosaur egg fossils was found in the city in southern China's Guangdong province. These eggs are large in size and one even has a diameter of 13 cm. All the eggs, which were found on April 2015 have been sent to the museum for further preservation and further research. Nearly 17,000 dinosaur eggs have been found in Heyuan since 1996, when a group of children playing at a building site first came across some fossils. The museum has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records for its collection of 10,008 dinosaur egg fossils, the largest in the world.