America’s first African American president is being immortalized once again, this time in the shape of a small insect eating dinosaur, now named the Obamadon Gracilis. Researchers at Yale University decided to name the dinosaur with lots of teeth after the 44th President of the United States, Barrack Obama, because both have toothy grins. Seriously. I can’t make this stuff up.
Long extinct, the tiny creature was discovered in Montana 1974 but was misclassified as a Leptochamops Denticulatus. Twenty-eight years later the error is realized and lucky for President Obama, just in time for his history making election which catapulted him to global recognition.
It’s not only Obama’s teeth that inspired his name. It’s also his slender build.
Yale scientists used the Latin “Obamadon” for “Obama’s teeth” and chose “gracilis” because it means slender. So the direct translation of this little dinosaur’s name is Obama’s teeth slender. Wow. What a tough dinosaur name.
Joking aside, paleontologist Nick Longrich says they never would have named the extinct dino after the President if he wasn’t re-elected.
“It would look like we were kicking him when he’s down if he lost and we named this extinct lizard after him,” he told media. [ Source] [ Picture ]
