Freaky Fossil: Scientists Discover a Hunchback Dinosaur

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REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

Paleontological enthusiasts are love drunk off this new hump.

Spanish scientist Francisco Ortega has discovered a near-complete fossil of the “Concavenator corcovatus” — a 20-foot long theropod dinosaur that walked approximately 125 million years ago. According to the AP, the special nature of Ortega’s finding is the extension of at least 16 inches on the fossil’s back. He theorizes it may have been an appendage for interpersonal differentiation within the species.

Ortega’s study, which was published in Thursday’s edition of Nature, notes that the bumps along the dinosaur’s hump portray qualities similar to a bird’s feathers. If these observations prove to be true, the discovery changes the evolutionary course of when bird-like animals first roamed the Earth.