Carnivorous Dinosaur with Short Snout and Strong Bite Menaced Patagonia

An artist's impression of the Cretaceous Period meat-eating dinosaur Llukalkan aliocranianus is seen in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on March 30, 2021. (Handout via Reuters)
An artist's impression of the Cretaceous Period meat-eating dinosaur Llukalkan aliocranianus is seen in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on March 30, 2021. (Handout via Reuters)
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Carnivorous Dinosaur with Short Snout and Strong Bite Menaced Patagonia

An artist's impression of the Cretaceous Period meat-eating dinosaur Llukalkan aliocranianus is seen in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on March 30, 2021. (Handout via Reuters)
An artist's impression of the Cretaceous Period meat-eating dinosaur Llukalkan aliocranianus is seen in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on March 30, 2021. (Handout via Reuters)

Scientists in Argentina have unearthed the well-preserved skull of a meat-eating dinosaur that roamed northern Patagonia about 85 million years ago - a beast with a short snout, keen hearing and stout bite strength that made it a daunting predator.

The dinosaur, named Llukalkan aliocranianus, measured roughly 16 feet (5 meters) long and was a member of a carnivorous group called abelisaurids that prospered in South America and other parts of Earth’s Southern Hemisphere during the Cretaceous Period, researchers said on Tuesday.

Llukalkan, meaning “one who causes fear” in the local native Mapuche language, may have competed directly against a cousin that was equally impressive and slightly larger. Only about 700 yards (meters) away from where Llukalkan’s fossilized skull was found, scientists previously had dug up the remains of another meat-eating dinosaur called Viavenator exxoni.

Both were abelisaurids, a group of two-legged predators with short skulls, sharp and serrated teeth, extremely short arms with tiny fingers and heads sometimes featuring unusual ridges and small horns. Abelisaurids generally were medium-sized compared to huge carnivorous dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex, which lived in North America approximately 15 million years after Llukalkan, and Giganotosaurus, which lived in Patagonia about 15 million years before Llukalkan.

“Yes, it is very unusual to find two abelisaurids that lived in the same locality and at approximately the same time,” said paleontologist Federico Gianechini of Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and the National University of San Luis, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

“Llukalkan was a little smaller than Viavenator, although, if they lived together, they surely shared the same ecological niche and fed on the same prey, so they would have competed with each other and - why not - even eaten each other,” Gianechini added. “Today, predators of different species but from the same family co-exist in the same ecosystem, such as lions, leopards and cheetahs.”

Llukalkan’s skull measured about 20 inches (50 cm) long. A large percentage of the cranial bones were found, including a nicely preserved braincase.

“A peculiarity of this dinosaur is that it has cavities in the ear area that other abelisaurids did not have, which could have given this species different auditory capacities, possibly a greater hearing range,” Gianechini said.

“The good preservation allowed us to make studies of the internal part of the braincase through tomography and thus infer the shape of the brain,” Gianechini added.

Llukalkan had a powerful bite, based on the musculature of its jaws, and its teeth could tear flesh from its prey. Unlike some abelisaurids, its skull was not bumpy.

No bones from the rest of its body were found, though the researchers have a good idea of its body plan based on other abelisaurids. They estimate Llukalkan weighed between one and five tons.

Patagonia has produced important dinosaur finds in recent decades. Llukalkan’s discovery allows for a deeper understanding of northern Patagonia’s ecosystems during the Cretaceous, the final chapter of the dinosaur age. Llukalkan inhabited a semi-arid environment with a seasonal climate, hunting a variety of plant-eating dinosaurs.



This Swedish Church is Moving 3 Miles Down the Road. It's Relocating before a Mine Swallows the Town

Kiruna's old wooden church is moved during a two-day relocation trip to a new site next to a cemetery, to save its wooden walls from ground subsidence and the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine, in Kiruna, Sweden August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Kiruna's old wooden church is moved during a two-day relocation trip to a new site next to a cemetery, to save its wooden walls from ground subsidence and the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine, in Kiruna, Sweden August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
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This Swedish Church is Moving 3 Miles Down the Road. It's Relocating before a Mine Swallows the Town

Kiruna's old wooden church is moved during a two-day relocation trip to a new site next to a cemetery, to save its wooden walls from ground subsidence and the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine, in Kiruna, Sweden August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Kiruna's old wooden church is moved during a two-day relocation trip to a new site next to a cemetery, to save its wooden walls from ground subsidence and the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine, in Kiruna, Sweden August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

How do you move one of Sweden’s most beloved wooden churches down the road? With a little bit of engineering, a lot of prayer — and some Eurovision for good luck.

The Kiruna Church — called Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish — and its belfry are being moved this week along a 5-kilometer (3-mile) route east to a new city center as part of the town’s relocation. It’s happening because the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine is threatening to swallow the town.

This week, thousands of visitors have descended upon Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost town at 200 kilometers (124 miles) above the Arctic Circle. It's home to roughly 23,000 inhabitants, including members of the Sami Indigenous people, spread over nearly 19,500 square kilometers (7,528 square feet).

Lena Tjärnberg, the church’s vicar, kicked off the move with a blessing Tuesday morning. The journey is scheduled to end Wednesday afternoon.

The church was a gift from the mining company

In 2001, the Swedish people voted the wooden church the “best building of all time, built before 1950” in a poll connected to the Ministry of Culture. Built on a hill so worshippers could overlook the rest of Kiruna, the Swedish Lutheran church was designed to emulate the Sami style as a gift from LKAB, the state-owned mining company.

The Kiruna mine itself dates back to 1910 and the church was completed in 1912. Its neo-Gothic exterior is considered the town's most distinctive building and tourists regularly traveled there before it was closed a year ago to prepare for the relocation. It's set to reopen in the new location at the end of 2026.

Tjärnberg said the final service in the old spot was bittersweet.

"The last day you go down the stairs and close the church door, you know it's going to be several years before you can open it — and in a new place,” she said. “We don't know how it's going to feel to open the door.”

The spectacle

This week's move has turned into a two-day highly choreographed media spectacle, run by LKAB and featuring an appearance by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf. Musical performances will include a set from KAJ, Sweden’s 2025 Eurovision entry that was the bookies’ favorite to win this year’s contest but lost out to classically trained countertenor JJ of Austria.

SVT, Sweden's national broadcaster, is capitalizing on the showcase and is livestreaming the move both days, billing it as “The Great Church Walk” to play off its success with the spring showing of “The Great Moose Migration” that has enthralled millions of viewers annually since 2019.

Known for both the Midnight Sun and the Northern Lights, Kiruna and the surrounding area is a major draw year-round for visitors to Swedish Lapland. The region also features the Aurora Sky Station, the Icehotel and Kebnekaise, the Nordic country’s highest mountain.

British tourists Anita and Don Haymes had already trekked to Kiruna twice before this year's trip. When they heard about the church's move, they changed their itinerary to ensure they'd be here for it. They took photographs of it propped up on beams and wheels this week before the move.

“It's an amazing feat that they are doing,” Anita Haymes said Sunday. “It'll be interesting to see it moving, unbelievable.”

But not everyone is thrilled about LKAB's extravaganza. Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chairman of one of the Sami reindeer herding organizations in Kiruna, said LKAB's plans for a new mine could threaten reindeer migration routes and imperil the livelihood of herders in the area.

The mechanics behind the move

The move of Kiruna's town center, including the church, has been in the works since 2004. As the mine expanded deeper underground, residents began seeing cracks in buildings and roads. In order to reach a new depth of 1,365 meters (4,478 feet) — and to prevent Kiruna from being swallowed up — officials began moving buildings to a new downtown at a safe distance from the mine.

As of July, 25 buildings had been lifted up onto beams and wheeled east. Sixteen, including the church, remain.

At approximately 40 meters (131 feet) wide with a weight of 672 metric tons (741 tons), the church required extra effort. Engineers widened a major road from 9 meters to 24 meters (30 to 79 feet) and dismantled a viaduct to make way for a new intersection.

A driver, using a large control box, is piloting the church through the route as it travels roughly 12 hours over Tuesday and Wednesday — with a pause each day for fika, the traditional Swedish afternoon coffee break. It's expected to move at a varying pace between 0.5 and 1.5 kilometers per hour (0.31 and 0.93 miles per hour).

Stefan Holmblad Johansson, LKAB's project manager for the move, would not say how much it has cost the mining company.