Hey, dino enthusiasts! 🦕
China's paleontologists have just dropped some prehistoric news that's 90 million years in the making! They've discovered fossil bones of a brand-new dinosaur species named Gandititan cavocaudatus.
Back in June 2021, construction workers in Ganxian District, Ganzhou city, Jiangxi Province, stumbled upon something way cooler than buried treasure. 🏗️ They found fossil bones dating back to the Cretaceous period! Talk about a blast from the past!
Wang Lingyun, the deputy curator of the Jiangxi Geological Museum, teamed up with brainiacs from the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and the Jiangxi Geological Survey and Exploration Institute. By the end of 2021, they were all hands on deck, restoring and researching this prehistoric giant.
So, what's so special about this dino? Gandititan cavocaudatus is a new titanosaurian sauropod. That's a fancy way of saying it's part of the Titanosauria family – some of the biggest dinosaurs that ever roamed the Earth! 🌍
Han Fenglu, the project leader from the China University of Geosciences, spilled the tea: they've uncovered about 40% of the dinosaur's skeleton. That's super rare and totally awesome! Among the bones are six neck vertebrae, parts of the back, a complete sacrum connected to 17 tail vertebrae, and part of the right pelvis. Basically, we've got a good chunk of this prehistoric beast!
The team estimates that this dino was about 14 meters long – not too shabby but on the smaller side for sauropods. Guess even dinos come in all sizes! 😄
This discovery isn't just cool; it's changing the game for how we understand dinosaur evolution and their spread during the Cretaceous period. The findings were published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology on January 17, and the paleontology world is buzzing! 📰
Who knows what other ancient secrets are buried beneath our feet? One thing's for sure – China's paleontologists are on a roll! 🏆
Stay curious, amigos! 🌟
Reference(s):
Ancient fossils in China belong to new dinosaur species: experts
cgtn.com
