Thanos is a type of dinosaur that lived in Brazil around 83 to 86 million years ago during the late Cretaceous Period.
The scientific name for this dinosaur is Thanos simonattoi. It was a carnivorous dinosaur, which means it ate meat, and belonged to a group called Abelisauridae. Thanos is known for a unique feature: it had a special shape in its head that was different from other dinosaurs of its time.
Discovery of Thanos
In 2014, a team led by Sérgio Luis Simonatto found part of a dinosaur’s backbone in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. In 2018, scientists Rafael Delcourt and Fabiano Vidoi Iori named this dinosaur Thanos simonattoi in honor of the person who found it and possibly after the character Thanos from Marvel Comics.
The complete fossil they found includes an almost whole section of the dinosaur’s backbone, which is kept at the Museu de Paleontologia in Brazil.
About Thanos
Scientists think Thanos was roughly between 4.3 to 6.5 meters long, which is about the size of a minibus. Even though only part of its body was found, researchers noticed some specific characteristics that suggest Thanos was a bit more advanced than other similar dinosaurs from its time.
Thanos shared its habitat with other creatures, including a larger dinosaur thought to be a megaraptor and a smaller plant-eating dinosaur called Ibirania. This shows that Thanos was not the biggest predator in its environment.
Fun Fact
Thanos got its name from a famous character in Marvel Comics, known for being a powerful villain in the Avengers movies. The name Thanos itself comes from the Greek word for death.
In Summary
Thanos simonattoi is an exciting dinosaur because it shows us the diversity of life that existed millions of years ago in Brazil. Despite being only recently discovered, it gives us more clues about the kind of ecosystems that dinosaurs lived in and how they might have interacted with each other.