Juan Canal, co-author of the study and project director at the Ernesto Bachmann Museum in Neuquén, southern Argentina, goes further. “I am convinced that these relatively low arms have a function. The skeleton shows large muscular insertions and fully developed pectorals, so the arms had strong muscles”explained in a press release. “They can use their arms in their reproductive behaviour, such as holding the female during mating or supporting themselves to get up after a break or fall.”

Mirax lived on Earth 90 to 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, when the area was wetter, forested, and much closer to the sea, says Peter Makovsky. They can live to the age of 40, which is an advanced age for dinosaurs. It is assumed that they hunted sauropods living at the same time, the remains of which were discovered at the excavation site. With its skull full of ridges, grooves, bumps and little horns, Meraxes ‘He sure looked very majestic, he looked like a moron’commented.

“These are the kinds of characteristics which in living animals are often the subject of sexual selection”the researcher asserts, specifying that the species used its massive skull as a “bulletin board” for potential partners to notice.