'Weird bird carcass found in Iran'

**Admin** Wed May 11, 2011 2:22 am

The dead body of a strange dinosaur-like bird has been reportedly found near the city of Meshginshahr in the northwestern Iranian province of Ardebil.

The locals found the feathered bipedal creature, which seemed to have died a few days ago, near a remote village of Meshginshahr, IRNA reported on Sunday.

A team of officials of Iran's Environment Protection Organization (EPO) were dispatched to the region to investigate whether the reports were true.

One of the villagers has reportedly hidden the carcass and the EPO team is trying to find it. The team has managed to obtain a photo of the creature taken by one of the locals.

The team has also found evidence that confirmed the locals' claims the bird lived in a cave near the village.

The creature has a reptilian skull with long canine teeth and large molars. It has small wing bones like those of flightless birds.

The avifauna of Iran includes a total of 527 species, none of which are similar to the found creature; however, the discovery needs ornithologists to verify the claims.

Scientists believe that fossil evidence demonstrates birds and dinosaurs shared many features such as hollow bones, gastrolith in the digestive system, nest-building and brooding behaviors.

The discovery of fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex soft tissue also suggests that the 68-million-year-old dinosaur and birds are closely related to each other.