Researchers have decided to name a dinosaur after a character in the Ghostbusters movie.
What is the Zuul crurivastator?
A newly discovered dinosaur was named Zuul crurivastator, which is based on the Ghostbusters villain. The villain first appeared in the first Ghostbusters movie, resembles a horned dog monster with red eyes.
The skull of the new species ankylosaur has two sets of horns and resembles the villain and the Ghostbusters movie. Also, the name crurivastator means the “destroyer of shins.” This part of the name is inspired by the dinosaur’s heavily spiked tail. The dinosaur lived over 75 million years ago in the center of the United States in what is now called Montana, according to the LA Times.
The dinosaur was 20 feet long and weighed over 5,000 pounds. Also, the dinosaur was not a carnivore like the infamous T-Rex but instead consumed plants. According to reports, the skeleton was first discovered by a team looking for T.rex remains when a bulldozer hit the prehistoric animal’s tail.
Today, it is the only ankylosaur skeleton in the world. Also, the tissue was so well preserved that researchers were still able to see spikes still attached to the dinosaur. Researchers hope to find more soft tissues to understand the animal’s genetic biology better.
Ghostbusters’ star Dan Aykroyd helped the Royal Ontario Museum introduce the new dinosaur to the world. Together they said they are honored to have a name like that attached to a dinosaur.