Hammer adds another dinosaur to his collection

Paleontologist and professor of geology Dr. William Hammer has found a new type of dinosaur in a recent expedition to the Central Trans-Antarctic Mountains. The newly discovered species, a four or five-foot ornithischian or bird-hipped dinosaur, is on its way back to the United States in about 5,000 pounds of rock.

Dr. Hammer, Josh Mathews, chief fossil preparator, and several fellow researchers spent more than two months at the end of last year working on the range of mountains. Each day researchers would catch a helicopter from Beardmore Glacier up to the digging site on Mt. Kirkpatrick, which was about 12,500 feet elevation.

This is the second time Dr. Hammer has discovered a new dinosaur in the Antarctic region. In 1991, he uncovered a Cryolophosauraus ellioti, which means "frozen crested reptile" and represents the only crested theropod to be found in Antarctica.

For more on the expedition and its findings, see DiscoveryNews.