Meet Kongonaphon kely, a pocket sized dinosaur forerunner that was smaller than your cellphone.
The creature, which predated dinosaurs and flying pterosaurs, was just shy of 10 centimetres tall, according to a study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Some of these things would have been quite cute animals,” said study lead author Christian Kammerer, a paleontology researcher at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Looking like a small dinosaur that could fit in your hand, Kammerer mused that it “would probably make a great pet.”
Of course, no humans were around when Kongonaphon was roaming the wild, jumping around with its strong hind legs and feeding on bugs with its peg-like teeth, Kammerer said. The name means tiny bug slayer.
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The fossils, dug up in Madagascar, date from 237 million years ago. Scientists figure the little guy was an adult because of growth rings in its bones, Kammerer said.
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