Discover the smallest animal dinosaurs

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth, UK have announced the excavation of the world's new, smallest carnivorous dinosaur in Cretaceous Research, a prestigious magazine about Earth's ancient period.

The tiny dinosaur named ' Ashdown they maniraptoran ' was found in Ashdown Brickworks excavation area, East Sussex, southeast England. It is only about 30.48 cm long and weighs 200 grams. Ashdown lived in the Early Cretaceous, lasting 145 to 100 million years ago.

A dinosaur is hunting Anchiornis, a heavyweight opponent for Ashdown's title of the world's smallest dinosaur, maniraptoran.

Discovery 's news site quoted Darren Naish, one of the group's two researchers: ' Like the bird-foot dinosaurs, they maniraptoran, this dinosaur is a very small two-legged animal dinosaur, pictured birds, I have feathers, short tail, long neck, long slender hind legs, two front limbs with claws and feathers '.

Naish and colleague Steven Sweetman of the University of Portsmouth 's School of Environmental and Earth Sciences are two researchers who directly analyze the fossil of this new dinosaur.

They concluded that this fossil found in a dinosaur has not been recorded in any of the previous documents.

However, the only fossil analyzed is the rear neck vertebrae of the animal. Scientists have yet to unearth the skull of this dinosaur, so they cannot say for sure what food this new dinosaur uses.

' Based on previous knowledge, it is possible that this is an omnivore, they eat all the small animals, insects, leaves and fruits, ' Naish said.

He further analyzed, like other mammal dinosaurs, the Ashdown they maniraptoran must be able to walk with their legs, body and tail in a parallel position to the ground.

Currently, the smallest dinosaurs in the world that have ever been discovered belong to the bird family. The world's smallest dinosaur is the Cuban hummingbird dinosaur, which is only 3.08 cm long and weighs about 1.78 grams.

The most serious competitor for the 'world's smallest animal dinosaur' of Ashdown maniraptoran is now anchiornis species found in China. It is estimated to be between 30 and 40 cm long, so far we do not know how much it is.

In recent years, scientists have excavated very few tiny dinosaurs. However, they believe that many fossils of new dinosaurs will continue to be found in the near future.

Naish and Sweetman especially hope they will find more fossils of Ashdown species maniraptoran.