Dinosaur fossils are certainly a rare find, but a group of Chinese palaeontologists discovered a massive dinosaur skeleton and 70% of the fossil was completely intact.
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National treasure
The team stumbled upon this national treasure in the city of Lufeng in southern China during a dig at the end of May. The team believes they uncovered a monster that is from the early Jurassic period, and it could be around eight meters tall. Wang Tao, Head of the Dinosaur Fossil Conservation and Research Center of Lufeng City said:
Such a highly complete dinosaur fossil is a rare find around the world.
Based on the fossil we have discovered over the years, on its tail, and thigh bones, we believe this is a type of giant Lufengosaurus, which lived during the Early Jurassic period
The team may have struck gold, but now they are in a race against time as soil erosion is threatening their find. The center has planned for an emergency dig in order to get the skeleton out as soon as possible.
Lufengosaurus
This four-legged herbivore is native to what is now known as south west China and although it might be the largest that has been found, it is not the first. The first Lufengosaurus bones were discovered back in the 1930s and in 2017 the species became recognised worldwide when collagen protein that was 100 million years older than previously recorded protein fossils was identified in the rib of a Lufengosaurus fossil.
The city of Lufeng, which is located in the province of Yunnan, has been a hotspot for dinosaur fossils, and earlier this year paleontologists located a younger prehistoric giant which reportedly doesn’t match the description of any known dinosaurs so far.
