[Rockhounds] 26-Foot-Long Distant Cousin of T. Rex Was Found in an Unexpected Place

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Newly classified fossils indicate a distant cousin of the Tyrannosaurus Rex
once roamed what is now Central Asia, an area that hasn’t previously
produced evidence of being home to carnivorous dinosaurs.

The newly named dino, which has been dubbed *Alpkarakush* kyrgyzicus,
belonged to the metriacanthosaurids family, a subset of theropods, which
were characterized by hollow bones, three toes, and claws on each limb.
That makes *Alpkarakush* a distant relative of the T. Rex. (The name
*Alpkarakush* is a reference to a Kyrgyz epic
<https://kyrgyzstan-tourism.com/en/blog/the-epic-of-manas-spirit-of-the-kyrgyz/>,
in which a bird with that name helps the heroes at critical moments).

Theropod fossils have been found in North America, southwestern Europe,
India, Africa, China, and other places, but never in Central Asia. In fact,
until now, no large predators from the Jurassic period had been found in
the region. But excavations in Kyrgyzstan between 2006 and 2023 turned up
several fossils, including skull bones, dorsal and pelvis vertebrae, parts
of shoulders and forelimbs, hind limbs and a pelvis, that belonged to a
single specimen. That animal had likely been over 26 feet (eight meters)
long and was at least 17 years old when it died. Remains of a second,
smaller, animal, that was likely a juvenile from the same species, were
also found.

https://gizmodo.com/26-foot-long-distant-cousin-of-t-rex-was-found-in-an-unexpected-place-2000489571