Nature & Environment
Fossil Remains of a Complete Dinosaur Tail Unearthed in Northern Mexico [VIDEO]
Benita Matilda
First Posted: Jul 23, 2013 12:45 PM EDT
Mexican archaeologists unearthed fossilized remains of a 72 million-year-old dinosaur tail in a desert in northern Mexico.
The discovery of a full dinosaur tail in the northern desert of Coahuila state, across the Rio Grande River from Texas, was confirmed by officials from the National Institute of Anthropology and History. They said that the fossilized remains of the complete dinosaur tail with about 50 vertebrae, which is about 16 feet long, resembles that of a hardrosaur or crested duckbill dinosaur, reports Huffington Post.
What is interesting about this discovery near a small town of General Cepeda is that the remains of the dinosaur are not just well preserved but it is the first such find to be made in Mexico.
The team of excavators believe that the remaining half of its body may be buried even deeper underground.
According to the researchers, the hadrosaur dinosaurs once roamed the land that is presently known as the North American Continent, Europe and Asia. This 36 foot creature existed during the Cretaceous period some 72 million years ago.
The new discovery could help in understanding the hadrosaur family and aid research on diseases that afflicted dinosaur bones, which resembled those of humans, said Francisco Aguilar, INAH's director in the border state of Coahuila.
The team found other bones scattered around the tail, one of which they identified as the hip bone.
Aguliar explains that during the cretaceous period that came to an end some 65 million years ago, much of what is currently northern Mexico was in the coast. This has helped us the researchers to discover the remains of both marine and land based dinosaurs. The newly discovered fossilized tail will be shifted to General Cepeda for cleaning and further investigation, reports Reuters.
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First Posted: Jul 23, 2013 12:45 PM EDT
Mexican archaeologists unearthed fossilized remains of a 72 million-year-old dinosaur tail in a desert in northern Mexico.
The discovery of a full dinosaur tail in the northern desert of Coahuila state, across the Rio Grande River from Texas, was confirmed by officials from the National Institute of Anthropology and History. They said that the fossilized remains of the complete dinosaur tail with about 50 vertebrae, which is about 16 feet long, resembles that of a hardrosaur or crested duckbill dinosaur, reports Huffington Post.
What is interesting about this discovery near a small town of General Cepeda is that the remains of the dinosaur are not just well preserved but it is the first such find to be made in Mexico.
The team of excavators believe that the remaining half of its body may be buried even deeper underground.
According to the researchers, the hadrosaur dinosaurs once roamed the land that is presently known as the North American Continent, Europe and Asia. This 36 foot creature existed during the Cretaceous period some 72 million years ago.
The new discovery could help in understanding the hadrosaur family and aid research on diseases that afflicted dinosaur bones, which resembled those of humans, said Francisco Aguilar, INAH's director in the border state of Coahuila.
The team found other bones scattered around the tail, one of which they identified as the hip bone.
Aguliar explains that during the cretaceous period that came to an end some 65 million years ago, much of what is currently northern Mexico was in the coast. This has helped us the researchers to discover the remains of both marine and land based dinosaurs. The newly discovered fossilized tail will be shifted to General Cepeda for cleaning and further investigation, reports Reuters.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone