Thursday, May 19, 2005

Largest Shank Fossil Of Dinosaur Recovered In Inner Mongolia

From The People's Daily On-Line:
The largest fossil of sauropod dinosaur's shank has been recovered and the dinosaur has been classified as "Otogosaurus".
The fossil was accidentally discovered by a girl during grazing in September 2003. After identification by experts from different countries, the fossil of 2.2 meters long has been recognized as the largest among those of sauropod dinosaur ever excavated.

Thanks to the two-and-a-half-year research by experts including professor Zhao Xijin at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Tan Lin at the Department of Land and Resources of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the original form of the dinosaur has been recovered and its model has been made. The CAS named the dinosaur "Otogosaurus", which is 16.8 meters long and seven meters high, recovered from the shank fossil.

The dinosaur was given a beautiful name "Otogosaurus sarulai" since "Sarulai" is the name of the girl who discovered the fossil.
Really, you can't make this stuff up.