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Dinosaurs: New vegetarian dinosaur discovered in Utah

Newly discovered Iani SmithiImage source, Jorge Gonzalez/ North Carolina State University
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Newly-discovered Iani Smithi was a three metre long herbivore

A new plant-eating dinosaur nicknamed 'Iani Smithi' has been discovered in America.

The species lived 99 million years ago in a state in America we now call Utah.

Despite its three metre size and claws, Iani wouldn't harm us. He's a vegetarian. His powerful jaw and teeth were used to chew through tough plant material.

Who is Iani Smithi?

Iani Smithi was an early ornithopod (a type of dinosaur that stood on two feet) and was named after 'Janus', a Roman god with two faces.

Scientists first discovered teeth so they knew a creature like Iani could have lived in the area. But they said that finding a "beautiful skeleton" from this period of time was very lucky.

Finding Iani was a streak of luck...we weren't expecting to stumble upon such a beautiful skeleton

— Lindsay Zanno, North Carolina State University

The discovery of Iani raises some cool questions. During the period when he lived - called mid-Cretaceous - there was big changes to the climate and ecosystems, having huge effects on the dinosaur populations.

At the time, smaller plant-eating dinosaurs like duckbills and horned dinosaurs were arriving from Asia. So finding this intact dino-skeleton tells us a lot about the Earth's history at the time.

Researchers on the project at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences think that Iani may have been one of the "last surviving" dinosaurs of his species.

Iani was alive during this transition - so this dinosaur really does symbolise a changing planet.

— Lindsay Zanno, North Carolina State University