Utah home to Giant Turkeys!


OK -- used to be home to giant turkey-like dinosaurs.


Fossil hunters in Utah have uncovered a new species of birdlike, meat- eating dinosaur that researchers compare to a giant, flightless turkey.

Having lived some 75 million years ago, the two-legged dinosaur was twice the size of related species found in Canada and the northern United States, say fossil experts at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The dinosaur probably stood seven feet (two meters) tall and ran as fast as an ostrich, according to paleontologists Lindsay Zanno and Scott Sampson.

Named Hagryphus giganteus — “giant four-footed, birdlike god of the western desert”.

Now, take it easy on remarks about my friends and neighbors over in Utah.

Posted: Sat - April 8, 2006 at 08:39 AM