This dinosaur sure ain’t afraid of no ghosts.
Introducing “Zuul crurivastator,” a new species of ankylosaur that was discovered by scientists from the Royal Ontario Museum. The well-preserved skeleton of the 75-million-year-old species, including the skull, tail and armor, was discovered in Montana’s Judith River Formation, buried under metres of rock. Given how much of the dinosaur was found, scientists were able to piece together what it probably looked like when it was alive. And when the images were drawn up, one Ghostbusters fan on the team noted how similar it looked to the demon dog known as Zuul.
As paleontologist Victoria Arbour explained to CBC News…
Me and my co-author David Evans were batting around ideas for what to name it, and I just half-jokingly said, ‘It looks like Zuul from Ghostbusters’. Once we put that out there we couldn’t not name it that.
The outlet also described the dino in detail:
The plant-eating species has a short, rounded snout and prominent horns behind the eyes. A large knob of bone at the end of its stiffened tail could have been used to strike predators in the legs (hence the name destroyer of shins) or for battling others for territory or mates, the scientists said.
The tail is three metres long and covered in rows of large bony spikes, adding to its menace.
Fittingly, Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd helped introduce “the real Terror Dog.”
