Mini-me T Rex discovered in China
Remains of a pint-sized dinosaur which roamed the planet millions of years before it's giant descendant the T Rex, have been found in China.The 125-million-year-old fossil skeleton is said to be almost identical to that of a Tyrannosaurus rex… but 100 times smaller.
This means that while the 'Raptorex' would have had the same huge jaw, sharp teeth and powerful legs, it would only have measured 9ft from head to tail, and weighed the same as a human adult.
Experts say this turns scientific thinking on its head, up until now they thought T Rex evolved into the killing machine we know and love, over millions of years.
More importantly, it also means that Jurassic Park may not have been as accurate as we previously thought.
Paleontologist Paul Sereno from the University of Chicago said: "Raptorex shows that tyrannosaur design evolved at 'punk size' basically our bodyweight. "And that's pretty staggering, because there's no other example that I can think of where an animal has been so finely designed at about 100th the size that it would eventually become."
Henry Kriegstein, a private fossil collector, brought the nearly complete Raptorex skeleton to Sereno's attention after buying it from a vendor.
After Sereno and colleagues finish amore detailed study of Raptorex, it will be returned to a museum in Inner Mongolia, the place where the fossil was illicitly excavated.
LINKS
University of Chicago
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