When you looked at the JP3 Logo reported the other day, you may have noticed a new dinosaur in place of the T-Rex. The Dino appears to be a Suchomimus tenerensis, "an impressive-sized beast," says Paul Sereno, a Chicago paleontologist who found fossils of this dino.
"If you were standing next to it, your eye level would be at its knee," says Sereno "This animal was easily the size of Tyrannosaurus rex. And it was not fully grown."
Suchomimus apparently was a fish eater, said Sereno, but it could threaten virtually anything around it.
"With its forearms and its jaws, it would have been able to take down just about anything," Sereno said. "It was the dominant predator of its time."
The animal's most distinctive feature is its long, pointed jaw, armed with about 100 teeth. The end of the jaw is tipped with an extra chin-like projection, called a rosette, that actually contains the largest teeth. The top and bottom teeth mesh together to securely hook prey, a design common among fish-eating animals.
"The jaw is really very much like a crocodile's," Sereno said. "It was built for snaring and swallowing."