Chinese paleontologists have recorded a “rare” fossil of a small dinosaur found in the north of the country.
According to the Chinese news agency “Xinhua”, scientists from the Mongolian Provincial Institute for Fossil Protection found the fossil relatively complete in the autonomous region of Mongolia in northern China.
The agency indicated that researchers discovered the fossil during a survey that began last month in the Matsongshan Mountain area in the Alexa Banner, and during the survey identified 10 sites for collecting ancient fossils in the layers of the Cretaceous and Late Jurassic period.
The Cretaceous period, which began 137 million years ago and ended 65 million years ago, is believed by scientists to be the last era of dinosaurs’ dominance on Earth.
The agency pointed out that the scientists also found through the survey many fossils of ankylosaurus (armored dinosaur), econodon and turtles, and researchers are supposed to work in the coming period to repair and identify fossils to expand the scope of studies of Cretaceous fossils further.
The study of these fossils helps provide essential evidence of biological evolution in that era, which helps in studying the evolution of dinosaurs and their living conditions, as well as the reasons that led to their extinction from Earth.