Dinosaur's Amazing Dragon & # 39; discovered in China

Paleontologists in China discovered a new species of dinosaur that roamed the planet millions of years ago.

The fossil, found in the Lingwu region of northwestern China, has been called Lingwulong shenqi. "

The discovery was announced Tuesday and may force researchers to rethink the entire lineage of the largest animals to roam the earth.

MAYBE BIGFOOT WAS A DINOSAUR, IF THESE FOSSILS ARE ANY INDICATION [19659005] Lingwulong shenqi, a member of the vegetarian dinosaurs known as sauropods, lived 174 million years ago during the Jurassic Period.

Scientists searched the bones of at least eight to ten Lingwulong individuals, the largest of which was about 57 feet long, the paleontologist Xing Xu of the Chinese Academy of science, which ran the study published in the newspaper. Nature Communications, told Reuters

Researchers told the press service that the discovery was pushing back 15 million years the appearance of so-called advanced sauropods, which included some of the largest terrestrial animals of all time

THE TIME OF DINOSAURS FOUNDED 'FROZEN & # 39; IN THE AMBER

"Previously, we thought that all these advanced sauropods dated about 160 million years ago and were rapidly diversifying across the planet in a window of time possibly to be as short as 5 Million years, "said Paul Upchurch, paleontologist at University College London, a co-author of the study

but Lingwulong's discovery means that this group was born earlier and more slowly 19659005] Lingwulong lived in a warm and humid environment with lush vegetation, his neck was shorter than some other sauropods, and he could have grazed on soft plants with his teeth resembling pickets

"Our findings indicate that East Asia was still connected to other continents at that time".] Christopher Carbone is a journalist and news editor covering science and technology for F He can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @christocarbon .