2009-05-09 – World’s largest ornithomimosaurus in China

World’s largest ornithomimosauris to be exhibited in China

www.chinaview.cn 2009-05-08 20:44:55

LANZHOU, May 8 (Xinhua) — The world’s largest ornithomimosauris, a dinosaur named Beishanlong Grandis discovered in northwest China’s Gansu Province, will get its first public show in July, experts told Xinhua Friday.    The Beishanlong Grandis found about three years ago was recognized in April as the largest of the world’s ornithomimosauris in terms of size by Chinese and American palaeontologists and it will be seen by the public for the first time in July at a dinosaur exhibition in Lanzhou Stadium in Gansu, said Li Daqing, director of the Palaeontological Center, with Gansu Geology Bureau.

    The Beishanlong Grandis was both longer and heavier than the previous largest ornithomimosauris named Gallinimus found in Mongolia, Li said.

    The dinosaur is at least 100 million years old and was discovered in June 2006 at Beishan in Yujingzi Basin in Gansu, Li said.

    American palaeontologists Peter J. Makovicky from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and experts from New York’s Natural History Museum joined the research.

    The Beishanlong Grandis was eight meters long and 626 kilograms while the Gallinimus was four meters long and 440 kilograms, Li said.

    The experts had jointly published an article on the research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, published in London, in April, Li said.

    They found the dinosaur was only a 14-year-old when it died and experts believe an adult Beishanlong Grandis could be even larger, Li said.

    The Beishanlong Grandis was a herbivorous dinosaur with 15-centimeter-long, strong forepaws which lived during the Cretaceous period in the warm and humid basin. It could dig and rake, searching for food, Li said.

    The discovery of the Beishanlong Grandis has attracted the attention of the world’s experts and further research will be done on its living habits and evolution, Li said.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

2009-04-28 – Chongqing, China: “China’s Prehistoric Animal Fossil Exhibition”

Prehistoric “dinosaur”, “mammoth” fossils displayed in Chongqing

see the video

www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-27 21:49:04

BEIJING, April 27 — A herd of animals led by two “mammoths” and nine “dinosaurs” are causing a stir in the central Chinese city of Chongqing.

    ”China’s Prehistoric Animal Fossil Exhibition” is underway at the city’s Liberation Monument Square. More than 30 precious artifacts are on display.

    The show features relics from well-known museums in 8 provinces and cities. Many of the fossils are considered national treasures and date between the Jurassic and the Quatenary periods 190 million years ago.Among the highlights are the bones of nine dinosaurs and a well-preserved woolly mammoth skeleton. Researchers estimate the 2-and-a-half-meter-tall mammoth is about three million years old. A nearby mechanical replica mimics the movements and sound of the real thing.This exhibition runs until May 24th.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Chongqing.

    (Source: XHTV)

Editor: Bi Mingxin

2009-04-24 – Antenato del T.rex & co. (Tyrannosaurus rex ancestor, Xiongguanlong baimoensis & Ornithomimid, Beishanlong grandis)

Ancestor of T rex found in China

Tyrannosaurus rex may have had much smaller ancestors   Fossils found in China may give clues to the evolution of Tyrannosaurus rex. Uncovered near the city of Jiayuguan, the fossil finds come from a novel tyrannosaur dubbed Xiongguanlong baimoensis. The fossils date from the middle of the Cretaceous period, and may be a “missing link”, tying the familiar big T rex to its much smaller ancestors. The fossils show early signs of the features that became pronounced with later tyrannosaurs. Paleontological knowledge about the family of dinosaurs known as tyrannosaurs is based around two distinct groups of fossils from different parts of the Cretaceous period, which ran from approximately 145 to 65 million years ago. One group dates from an early part of the period, the Barremian, and the other is from tens of millions of years later. Physical form Before now it has been hard for palaeontologists to trace the lineage from one group to the other. “We’ve got a 40-50 million year gap in which we have very little fossil record,” said Peter Makovicky, associate curator at the Field Museum in Chicago, who helped to lead the US/Chinese team that uncovered the fossil.   Hadrosaurs – duck-billed dinosaurs – spread rapidly in the late Cretaceous But, he said, X baimoensis was a “nice link” between those two groups. “We’re filling in that part of the fossil record,” he said. Writing in the Royal Society’s journal Proceedings B, Dr Makovicky and colleagues suggest that X baimoensis is a “phylogenetic, morphological, and temporal link” between the two distinct groups of tyrannosaurs. The fossil has some hallmarks of large tyrannosaurs such as a boxy skull, reinforced temple bones to support large jaw muscles, modified front nipping teeth and a stronger spine to support a large head. But it also shows features absent from older tyrannosaurs, such as a long thin snout. An adult would have stood about 1.5m tall at the hip and weighed about 270kg. By contrast, an adult T rex was about 4m tall at the hip and weighed more than 5 tonnes. Wider net The same edition of Proceedings B features papers about two other sets of dinosaur fossils. One discovery was made in China by many of the palaeontologists who found the tyrannosaur. The samples found in the Yujingzi Basin came from a dinosaur that resembled the modern ostrich. While many of these ornithomimosaurs have been found before, analysis of the bones of the new species, dubbed Beishanlong grandis, suggest it was one of the biggest. The specimen found by the palaeontologists was thought to be 6m tall and weigh about 626kg. Alongside in Proceedings B was work on the remains of a duck-billed dinosaur found in Uzbekistan called Levnesovia transoxiana. Analysis of the fossils, by Hans-Dieter Sues of the Smithsonian in Washington and Alexander Averianov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, may shed light on the waves of expansion hadrosaurs undertook during the late Cretaceous.

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BBC News

T. Rex Relative Fills Evolutionary Gap

FOXNews - ‎22-apr-2009‎

A Tyrannosaurus rex ancestor and an ostrich-mimic have emerged as two new dinosaur species found among a treasure trove of skeletons in China’s Gobi Desert. …

T-Rex ancestor discovered DigitalJournal.com

Ancestor of T rex found in China The Spoof (satire)

tutte le notizie (22) »

2009-04-08 – Goseong, CHINA: 2nd Dinosaur Expo

Goseong Holds 2nd Dinosaur Expo

The city of Goseong is holding its second World Dinosaur Expo until June 7. Along the southern coast is an area where dinosaur fossil sites formed in the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era and where scientists from around the world come to study them.Bin Yong-ho, chief administrator of the expo, said, “Goseong is one of the world’s top three locations for fossilized dinosaur footprints, as well as having the highest concentration of tracks in the world. So we wanted to use this natural property to boost tourism. And to acknowledge the importance of the dinosaur fossil footprints, we are holding the World Dinosaur Expo.”

Visitors look at dinosaurs at the Goseong Dinosaur Expo on Mar. 27.

The expo is held every three years, with the first in 2006 attracting over 1.5 million visitors. Supported by the Korean government, it offers several activities to learn about the prehistoric creatures.

While the fossils are certainly the biggest draw, visitors can also be entertained by a variety of attractions, including a dinosaur parade, as well as educational opportunities.

And the city has been waiting since 2005 for its dinosaur footprint fossils to be listed as a World National Heritage by UNESCO. The fossil footprints could be listed in July.

Arirang News

source:
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200904/200904070028.html

2009-01-23 – Liaoning, Cina: un nuovo Pterosauro (Pterosaur Fossil)

Dal Cretaceo di Liaoning (Cina) l’ennesimo ritrovamento spettacolare: un piccolo pterosauro caratterizzato da un’ampiezza alare di soli 25 centimetri circa e da un becco appuntito e privo di denti.

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Pterosaur Fossil With 10 Inch Wingspan Discovered

With a wingspan of only 10 inches, this weird fossil is one of the world’s smallest species of flying Pterosaurs.

It was recently discovered in the western part of China’s Liaoning Province, which is believed to have been a forested area during the early Cretaceous Period some 120 million years ago.

This pterosaur was equivalent to the size of a modern blackbird.

“The fossil is very well preserved and it has long sharp bill. It was toothless and its skull was just over 4cm (more than 1-inch) long.” said Wang Xiaolin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Despite its small stature and wingspan, this small toothless reptile may well be the ancestor of gigantic Pterodactyls whose wing tips stretched 20-feet from wingtip to wingtip. This new species has been christened Nemicolopterus crypticus, meaning “hidden flying forest dweller”.

The slight shiver that might be crawling up your back is a reminder that in its own way that this fossil is a connection to all living things, humans included.

(Link)

source:
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/01/23/worlds-smallest-pterosaur-fossil-china/

2009-01-19 – Anchiornis: un nuovo dinosauro piumato (primitive feathered dinosaur)

Un nuovo dinosauro piumato scoperto in Cina, l’Anchiornis, può aiutare a comprendere meglio la “transizione” da dinosauri ad ucccelli essendo “più basale di Archaeopteryx.

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New Feathered Dinosaur Adds to Bird Evolution Theory

Kevin Holden Platt in Beijing
for National Geographic News

January 16, 2009

A fossil of a primitive feathered dinosaur uncovered in China is helping scientists create a better model of how dinosaurs evolved into modern birds.

The winged dinosaur is still in the process of being dated, and might have lived toward the end of the Jurassic period, which lasted from 208 to 144 million years ago.

Anchiornis - A fossil of a primitive feathered dinosaur uncovered in China (above) is helping create a better model of how dinosaurs evolved into modern birds, experts said in January 2009. - Photograph courtesy Xu Xing

In many ways, it is “more basal, or primitive, than Archaeopteryx,” said paleontologist Xu Xing at Beijing’s Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird, lived 150 million years ago.

The protobird is “very close to the point of divergence” at which a new branch of winged dinosaurs first took flight, said Xu.

The new species, called Anchiornis huxleyi, was discovered in the ashes of volcanoes that were active during the Jurassic and Cretaceous (144 to 65 million years ago) periods in what is now northeastern China.

(Read about the prehistoric world.)

Anchiornis, which is Greek for “close to bird,” measured just 13 inches (34 centimeters) from head to tail and weighed about 4 ounces (110 grams).

The dinosaur’s body and forelimbs were covered with feathers, and it “might have had some aerial capability,” Xu said.

“Anchiornis is one of the smallest theropod dinosaurs ever uncovered,” Xu explained. Theropods were a group of carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs.

Taking Wing

The fossil provides new clues about how feathers, wings, and flight progressively appeared among theropods, along with evidence that certain types of feathered dinosaurs decreased in stature even as their forelimbs became elongated.

The compact structure of Anchiornis “reinforces the deduction that small size evolved early in the history of birds,” Xu explained”[Anchiornis] exhibits some wrist features indicative of high mobility, presaging the wing-folding mechanisms seen in more derived birds,” he said.

“The wrist is a big part of the formation of wings, and pivotal to flight,” Xu added. “During flight, steering and flapping greatly depend on the wrist.”

Despite this protobird’s relatively advanced feathers and wrist, it is unclear if Anchiornis could actually engage in powered flight.

“Behavior and biomechanics are very difficult to determine solely from the fossil record, and perhaps flight is impossible to determine,” said Mark Norell, chairman and curator of the division of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

“Feathers have lots of functions, and probably evolved as thermoregulators,” said Norell, who closely examined the fossil during a trip to Beijing.

“Dinosaurs might have used feathers for sexual display or to make themselves appear bigger, or as camouflage to avoid predators,” he said.

Patterns of spots and bars evident on one species of feathered dinosaur from China might have functioned as a camouflage defense, Norell added.

(Related: “First Dinosaur Feathers for Show, Not Flight?” [October 22, 2008].)

Prehistoric Paradise

Xu said that the region in northeastern China where most of the world’s feathered dinosaurs, including Anchiornis, have been discovered is a virtual paradise for dinosaur hunting.

“This area has three circles of volcanic activity,” with eruptions that intermittently covered and preserved entire biospheres starting from the early Jurassic.

“Volcanos periodically killed the animals and plants and preserved them perfectly in volcanic ash,” he said.

“Sometimes the volcanic ash even preserves soft tissues, leaving behind an exceptional 3-D fossil.”

source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090116-feathered-dinosaur_2.html

2009-01-07 – Napoli, Citta della Scienza: Continuano le iniziative per la mostra sui Dinosauri cinesi (Chinese Dinosaurs)

07/01/2009 – 14.38

NAPOLI: I DINOSAURI TI FANNO LE FESTE

Oltre 5.000 persone per la 3 giorni della Befana alla Citta della Scienza

Grande successo di pubblico a Città della Scienza per l’iniziativa realizzata in occasione dell’Epifania. Grandi e piccini hanno affollato il nostro Science Centre e partecipato ai numerosi eventi in programma, premiando cosí il giusto mix tra “gioco” e “cultura” realizzato per questo evento. Promuovere la diffusione della scienza, divertendosi, è da sempre, del resto, uno degli obiettivi principali che si è proposta la Fondazione Idis-Città della Scienza e il gradimento ottenuto avvalora questa scelta. L’ ampio consenso registrato ha inoltre spinto a prolungare fino a domenica 11 gennaio la manifestazione ” I Dinosauri ti fanno le feste” dove laboratori, visite guidate, animazioni itineranti e spettacoli interattivi coinvolgeranno i visitatori.

 MiMo – irispress

2009-01-03 – Napoli, mostra sui dinosauri dalla Cina: festa della Befana alla Città della Scienza

Anche per Napoli una grande festa della Befana alla Città della Scienza INGRESSO GRATUITO

Continua lo straordinario successo della mostra sui dinosauri dalla Cina, oltre 2.000 visitatori nello scorso week end e per domenica prossima, 4 gennaio,  una grande festa per tutti i bambini: Aspettando la Befana.  

Come ormai è tradizione in occasione della festa dell’Epifania il Science Centre di Città della Scienza organizza una grande festa e tutti i bambini fino a 10 anni dalle ore 10 alle ore 14 entrano gratuitamente. Accolti dalla Befana sui trampoli  i piccoli visitatori potranno andare alla scoperta dei segreti dell’Officina dei Piccoli, della mostra sui dinosauri dalla Cina, partecipare alle tante animazioni, ai giochi, ai laboratori creativi e a quelli di paleontologia nell’area della mostra sui dinosauri, assistere alle performance degli artisti di strada e agli spettacoli di animazione.

E per finire un Evento spettacolare a sorpresa offerto dalle Nuvole .

La giornata è organizzata in collaborazione con l’Assessorato alle Politiche Sociali del Comune di Napoli e con il patrocinio dell’Unicef Campania.

per info visitare il sito www.cittadellascienza .it  /   www.fondazioneidis.org

fonte:
http://www.sambuceto.info/comunicati/?p=2499

2008-12-12 – Cina: scoperto nuovo dinosauro (new dinosaur, China)

Huge dinosaur fossils discovered in China

 www.chinaview.cn 2008-12-11 21:11:09

Scientists preserve the fossil of a dinosaur excavated in Liudian township in Ruyang County, central China’s Henan Province, Dec. 9, 2008. Extremely large fossils of dinosaurs were discovered recently by scientists in an area in Ruyang County. The biggest fossil measures 3.3 meters long and 2.3 meters wide. According to the fossil of its bones, the dinosaur is supposed to be much bigger than the one found in last July, which was identified as Asia’s Heaviest dinosaur.  (Xinhua Photo)

Scientists clean up the fossil of a dinosaur excavated in Liudian township in Ruyang County, central China’s Henan Province, Dec. 9, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Scientists clean up the fossil of a dinosaur excavated in Liudian township in Ruyang County, central China’s Henan Province, Dec. 9, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

source:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/11/content_10491304.htm

2008-12-06 – Napoli – Città della scienza: la mostra rimane aperta !!!

Dinosauri da record e la mostra rimane aperta

Doveva chiudere invece, dato il successo, la mostra “Futuro Remoto” viaggio tra scienza e fantascienza dedicata al mondo dei dinosauri rimarrà aperta per tutto il periodo natalizio.

Negli ambienti di Città della Scienza, a Bagnoli, trovano ospitalità gli esemplari ed i fossili rinvenuti in Cina nel corso degli ultimi decenni e conservati presso il Museo di Storia naturale di Pechino. Ed oltre agli scheletri ed ai fossili ci sono, in mostra, alcune opere realizzate dal paleoartista Luis Rey.

Numeri da record quelli registrati finora: 25.425 visitatori paganti. Il pubblico è eterogeneo: coppie, intellettuali, giovani, gruppi di studenti, famiglie e tanti tanti bambini! Ma anche ospiti illustri che sono venuti a visitare la mostra o che hanno partecipato agli eventi della manifestazione. Lunghe file al botteghino e continue richieste da parte delle scuole, di prenotazioni.

(04 dicembre 2008)

fonte:
http://napoli.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Dinosauri-da-record-e-la-mostra-rimane-aperta/1556839