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Wild chicken from hell once roamed Dakotas

This illustration provided by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on March 18, 2014 shows the dinosaur Anzu wyliei. The birdlike animal, about 7 feet tall, weighed an estimated 500 pounds when it roamed western North America around 66-68 million years ago. Nicknamed the
By Rich Landers richl@spokesman.com(509) 459-5508
This illustration provided by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on March 18, 2014 shows the dinosaur Anzu wyliei. The birdlike animal, about 7 feet tall, weighed an estimated 500 pounds when it roamed western North America around 66-68 million years ago. Nicknamed the
This illustration provided by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on March 18, 2014 shows the dinosaur Anzu wyliei. The birdlike animal, about 7 feet tall, weighed an estimated 500 pounds when it roamed western North America around 66-68 million years ago. Nicknamed the "chicken from hell," the creature was formally introduced with an official name to the scientific community Wednesday, March 19, 2104 as scientists published a description and analysis of its anatomy. (Mark Klingler / AP Photo/Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

WILDLIFE — Looks like hunters missed out on some impressive big game by being latecomers to North America.

Chicken from hell once roamed the Dakotas

For nearly a decade, scientists have been trying to piece together bones discovered in a sedimentary rock layer known as the Hell Creek Formation in three locations in North and South Dakota, and the oviraptorosaur they’ve discovered, was an 11-feet-long, 500-pound, beaked, clawed, feathery beast nicknamed the “Chicken from Hell.”

—Washington Post

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Outdoors Blog." Read all stories from this blog