- After being embedded in volcanic ash for between 128m
to 139m years, a young dinosaur has been discovered by palaeontologists
in China dozing just like a bird. Dubbed Mei Long, which means "soundly
sleeping dragon" in Chinese, the fossil was unearthed with its head
tucked under one forelimb and is considered the earliest known example
of a creature found in a bird-like repose.
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- The find of "tuck-in behaviour" provides evidence
of bird features occurring early in dinosaur evolution and at just 53cm
long, its small size is seen as crucial in understanding the origin of
flight.
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- The fossil was found in Liaoning province in north-east
China, by Xing Xu from the Chinese academy of sciences and Mark Norell,
a scientist at the American museum of natural history.
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- Liaoning province is fast becoming a hot-spot for dinosaur
hunters looking for evidence of behaviour in fossilised vertebrates.
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- The paper published in Nature magazine today says the
dinosaur, classified as a troodontid, was a young adult with a small skull,
short trunk and very long hind limbs, indicating it could run well on two
legs.
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- "The specimen displays the earliest recorded occurrence
of stereotypical sleeping or resting behaviour found in living birds,"
the palaeontologists write.
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- The scientists believe the "remarkable life pose"
of the dinosaur is identical to the stereotypical "tuck-in" sleeping
posture adopted by modern birds to keep warm.
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- "From the ... position of the fossil we can tell
the tuck-in behaviour originated in the non-avialan precursors to modern
birds."
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/story/0,12976,1326559,00.html
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