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The Nothronychus made a major contribution into our understanding of therizinosaurs and their appearance. At first it was thought that these animals were native only to Asia until the discovery of Nothronychus was made in 2001 along the border of New Mexico and Arizona. The remains were well preserved and most of the body was still intact, it showed unuiqe body shape unlike any other dinosaur. It had a large pot belly and an awkwardly long neck with huge long arms. This dinosaur was a real oddball but helped shed light on the therizinosaur family. Unlike its larger cousin the therizinosaurus the Nothronychus had slightly shorter claws but we're still as effective as a defense and tool for grasping vegetation. Nothronychus is actually a close relative of carnivorous dinosaurs but unlike most theropods it fee strictly on plants. This served as an evolutionary tool and meant that since Nothronychus didn't eat meat it didn't have to have competition with other predators, as well it didn't have to waste energy hunting down prey and could instead leisurely graze and browse on plants. The Nothronychus is just one of many members of a very unusual and very adaptive group of dinosaurs.
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