Scientists find complete dinosaur fossil
TOKYO (AP) - July 24, 2008 The scientists uncovered a Tarbosaurus - related to the giant
carnivorous Tyrannosaurus - from a chunk of sandstone they dug up
in August, 2006 in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, said Takuji
Yokoyama, a spokesman for the Hayashibara Museum of Natural
Sciences, a co-organizer of the joint research project.
"We were so lucky to have found remains that turned out to be a
complete set of all the important parts," he said.
After two years of careful preparatory work, scientists found
that the fossilized skeleton only lacked neck bones and the tip of
the tail.
Young dinosaur skeletons are hard to find in good condition
because they often are destroyed by weather decay or because they
were torn apart by predators. The latest find would be a major step
toward discovering the growth and development of dinosaurs,
Yokoyama said.
The fossil, believed to have died at age 5, measured about 6.6
feet long, he said. Adult dinosaurs of the species are believed to
have grown up to 40 feet.
The dinosaur, whose gender was unknown, came from a geological
layer created about 70 million years ago in the late Cretaceous
period.
The Japanese scientists and colleagues from the Center of
Paleontology under the Mongolian Academy of Sciences have been
jointly conducting dinosaur excavations in the Gobi Desert since
1993.
The Japanese museum is run by Hayashibara Co., a biotechnology
firm based in Okayama, western Japan.