Researchers discovered fossils that are perfectly preserved in the western Liaoning Province in China. The 125-million-year-old dinosaur fossils, named Changmiania liaoningensis (which means "eternal sleeper from Liaoning" in Chinese), were possibly trapped by a volcanic eruption, as Fox News details:
"These animals were quickly covered by fine sediment while they were still alive or just after their death," said the study's co-author and paleontologist Pascal Godefroit, in a statement.
C. liaoningensis was small compared to its larger herbivore brethren, such as the titanosaur. It was approximately 4-feet long and had "very powerful hind legs" to go with a long tail, which suggests the ancient ornithopod was a strong and fast runner and walked upright, similar to iguanodons.
“However, certain characteristics of the skeleton suggest that Changmiania could dig burrows, much like rabbits do today,” Godefroit added. “Its neck and forearms are very short but robust, its shoulder blades are characteristic of burrowing vertebrates and the top of its snout is shaped like a shovel. So we believe that both Changmiania specimens were trapped by the volcanic eruption when they were resting at the bottom of their burrows 125 million years ago.”
As for their perfect preservation, the researchers suggest the two dinosaurs were resting when they died.
image via Fox News
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