Science Friday: meet the new dinosaur on the block

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the newly-described Gryposaurus monumentensis, which I believe is Latin for "big-ass duck-billed tree chomper." I'll let the science guys do the talking:

The newly named Gryposaurus monumentensis, or hook-beaked lizard from the monument, was discovered near the Arizona line in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 2002 by a volunteer at the site. Details about the 75-million-year-old dinosaur, including its name, were published in the Oct. 3 edition of Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Duck-billed dinosaurs were previously known to have been among the most imposing herbivores, with hundreds of teeth and a body that could knock down trees.

Gryposaurus monumentensis, at least 30 feet long and 10 feet tall with a robust jaw and thick bones, was like a duck-billed dinosaur on steroids, said paleontologist Terry Gates.

"It's basically the Cretaceous version of a weed-whacker," he said. "You have a very formidable herbivore."

Speaking of weed-whackers: