Concavenator

Concavenator was a meat-eating dinosaur that lived in prehistoric Europe. It had a strange hump-shaped back.

The researchers who first described the dinosaur used this feature to inspire the full species name. Concavenator corcovatus means 'hump-backed hunter from Cuenca'.

Two tall bones in Concavenator's spine created an unusual crest near its hips.

Experts aren't sure how this crest would have looked in life. It might have supported a fleshy hump or a thin sail.

Nobody knows why Concavenator had a back crest. Perhaps it helped the dinosaur identify other Concavenator. Alternatively, it might have had a role in temperature control, like a camel's hump.

Although its tall back spines may look a bit like the sail of Spinosaurus, Concavenator wasn't a spinosaur.

Instead, scientists think Concavenator belongs in the carcharodontosaur group - the 'shark-toothed lizards'.

Although Concavenator wasn't a huge dinosaur, some of its relatives could reach very large sizes. Carcharodontosaurus and Giganotosaurus are among the biggest land predators ever discovered.

Scientists disagree about whether Concavenator had feathers.

The dinosaur's arm bone shows some evidence of what might be quill knobs, which are small marks showing where feathers attach.

But some experts believe that these bumps are more likely to be muscle attachment scars. Unfortunately, the fossil in question is somewhat distorted, so it's hard to say for sure.

Researchers have found fossil evidence for scaly skin covering some parts of Concavenator's body. However, nobody knows if it was scaly all over.

Artists who depict the dinosaur as having feathers generally show primitive feathers, which were thin and hair-like.

Concavenator lived around 130 to 125 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous Period of what is now Spain.

Its bones were found at the Las Hoyas fossil site, which at the time was the location of an inland lake. Other organisms found there include plants, fishes, worms and prehistoric crocodiles.

Concavenator also lived alongside several other European dinosaurs. These included the meat-eating spinosaur Baryonyx and the plant-eaters Iguanodon and Hypsilophodon.