Recently, an international team of researchers have discovered a new dinosaur species located in China. According to the researchers, the dinosaur died before reaching adulthood.
Researchers have discovered the fossil of this new dinosaur species in Xinjiang, China. They have given the dinosaur a name, Aorun zhaoi. According to researchers, Aorun zhaoi is a baby dinosaur whose age was less than a year when it died. The discovered baby dinosaur weighs only 3 lbs (1.3 kilogram) and it is just 3 feet (1 meter) long. The skull of Aorun zhaoi is merely taller than the diameter of a quarter. The fossil of Aorun zhaoi is estimated to be at least 161 million years old.
But researchers believe, if the dinosaurs could reach the adulthood, its height would have been around 16 feet (5 meters) like Monolophosaurus or 25 feet (7.6 m) like Sinraptor. That’s not all. Researchers also believe that Aorun zhaoi was likely a meat-eater. It possibly used to eat lizards most.
George Washington University’s James Clark who lead the team that made the discovery said, “All that was exposed on the surface was a bit of the leg. We were pleasantly surprised to find a skull buried in the rock too.”
The dinosaur’s name is said to be in homage of the Chinese story Journey to the West‘s Dragon King, which is about as noble of a name as any fossil can hope for. The findings have been published in The Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
Source: George Washington University
Thanks To: Slash Gear
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