Huge fossilised claws discovered by scientists belong to mysterious new species

A set of huge, fossilised claws were discovered by archaeologists, offering remarkable insight into a fascinating creature – and dinosaur fans, you’re going to want to see this.

The massive pair of talons were found in the Gobi Desert in southeastern Mongolia and the fossilised remains offer us a glimpse at a brand new species never seen before by scientists.

The two fingers found both have keratin on the outer layer acting as a sheath, with bones underneath extending as talons.

The claws measure almost 30 centimeters long, and we certainly wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of it, we’ll say that much.

The “herbivorous or omnivorous” creature was named Duonychus tsogtbaatari and experts were able to hypothesise that the claws were used to latch onto vegetation.

Paleontologist Yoshitsugu Kobayashi from Hokkaido University in Japan led the team behind the discovery in 2012, with the "exceptionally preserved and atypical hands” presenting a remarkable find. The research was published in iScience.

The experts were able to establish that the fossil was around 90-95 million years old, and the species belongs to the therizinosaurs, which are dinosaurs with feathers that lived across Asia and North America.

"The discovery of Duonychus tsogtbaatari is a big deal because it's the first known therizinosaur with only two fingers," Kobayashi told New Scientist.

"Most theropods, including other therizinosaurs, kept three functional fingers, so finding one that lost a digit is pretty unexpected."

"As herbivorous or omnivorous theropods with long necks and small leaf-shaped teeth, the evolution of their unusual hands likely played an important role in the feeding ecology of this clade," the experts wrote in their paper.

"Although claws usually have a dominant function, likely for hook-and-pull foraging in most derived therizinosaurs, these structures could also have been utilized for other purposes, such as territoriality, defense, courtship, play, etc."

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