Excerpt from local newspaper February 2006
'The great grandfather of Tyrannosaurus Rex, a 160-million year-old 'crowned dragon', with a 'comb' on its head, fuzz on its body and extra fingers, has been found in China.
The oldest-known tyrannosaur was found in the Gobi Desert, revealing an odd combination of features, including a cumbersome and fragile crest on it head that would have made the animal attractive to mates but vunerable in a fight.
The team that discovered the 3m long creature has named the new dinosaur guanlong wucaii, with the generic name derived from the Manderin word for 'crowned dragon'and the specific name referring to the colours of the rocks in the Junggar Basin in north-west China, where the specimens were found.
The creature is from the Late Jurassic Period, almost 100 million years before T. Rex and 30 million years older than a relatively primitive, feathered tyrannosaur, dilong paradoxus.
'The great grandfather of Tyrannosaurus Rex, a 160-million year-old 'crowned dragon', with a 'comb' on its head, fuzz on its body and extra fingers, has been found in China.
The oldest-known tyrannosaur was found in the Gobi Desert, revealing an odd combination of features, including a cumbersome and fragile crest on it head that would have made the animal attractive to mates but vunerable in a fight.
The team that discovered the 3m long creature has named the new dinosaur guanlong wucaii, with the generic name derived from the Manderin word for 'crowned dragon'and the specific name referring to the colours of the rocks in the Junggar Basin in north-west China, where the specimens were found.
The creature is from the Late Jurassic Period, almost 100 million years before T. Rex and 30 million years older than a relatively primitive, feathered tyrannosaur, dilong paradoxus.
