HOME PAGE
 Eras of Life
 Dinosaur Evolution
 Feathered Dinosaurs

Species

 Compsognathidae

MYA
   Compsognathus

150

   Sinosauropteryx

130

 Therizinosauroidea
   Beipiaosaurus

130

   Falcarius

125

   Alxasaurus

112

   Erlikosaurus

95

   Therizinosaurus

75

 Oviraptoridae
   Caudipteryx

140

   Insicivosaurus

120

   Avimimus

95

   Chirostenotes

70

   Rinchenia

70

   Nomingia

68

   Oviraptor

67

 Dromaeosauridae
   Microraptor

126

   Deinonychus

120

   Buitreraptor

90

   Unenlagia

90

   Bambiraptor

80

   Atrociraptor

70

   Dromaeosaurus

70

   Velociraptor

67

 Tyrannosauridae
   Dilong

130

 Troodontidae
   Mei long

130

   Sinornithoides

105

   Troodon

 67

 Alvarezsauridae
  Patagonykus 95
  Shuvuuia 80
  Alvarezsaurus 80
  Parvicursor 80
  Mononykus 70
 Aves (birds)
   Protarchaeopteryx

135

   Archaeopteryx

147

  Recent Discoveries
  Juraventor Starki

Information

 Tyrannosaurs
 Weird Dinosaurs
 Prehistoric Sea Monsters
 Pterosaurs
 Sauropods

 

 

Mei long  (Xu and Norell, 2004) - a troodontid

Name Means: "Sleeping Dragon" Length: 21 inches
Pronounced: my-long Weight: 8 pounds
When it lived: 130 MYA    
Where found: Liaoning Province, China    

   The October 13, 2004, National Geographic News carried a story on the new dinosaur recently discovered in China, quickly dubbed, "The sleeping dragon." because of its posture. The new fossil specimen is an almost fully grown adult. It sits on long, folded hind limbs. Its forelimbs are folded birdlike next to its body and its neck curves to the left, so that its relatively small head lies between the left elbow and body.  "I never expected we'd find a sleeping dinosaur in general, let alone with the tuck-in position," said Xu Xing, a curator at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China.
    Mark Norell, chairman of the division of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said the discovery further strengthens the chain linking dinosaurs and birds, suggesting this birdlike sleeping posture first evolved in dinosaurs.  "This is another stereotypical bird behavior in another nonavian theropod," he said. Theropods are meat-eating dinosaurs characterized by short forelimbs and powerful hind legs. Many scientists believe small theropods are ancestors to the first birds. The posture is identical to the "tuck-in" posture of many living birds, according to Xu and Norell.
    Mei long was found in layers of volcanic and riverbed sediment that have been dated to about 130 million years ago. At that time, Liaoning Province was a volcanically active, forested region filled with lakes and streams. "It is kind of difficult to imagine how a fossil can be preserved in such a posture. It must be like it instantly died and was buried," Xu said. Scientists are uncertain as to exactly how the fossil was preserved.  Sues and Philip Currie, curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrell Museum in Alberta, Canada, point out that an incomplete troodontid skeleton from Mongolia, Sinornithoides, was discovered in 1994 in a similar pose. "Overall, I think [Mei long] is a very remarkable find and is especially amazing because it is the second small troodontid in this pose," Currie said. "Not much doubt that this is the way they slept."
   While feathered-dinosaur discoveries are becoming almost routine, the discovery of a sleeping dinosaur is a rare surprise, Norell said. "There are so very few fossils of animals which are basically buried alive, preserving behavior that's interesting."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Poster is available at
www.Edugraphics.net

 
 
Edugraphics.Net | Feenixx Publishing |