Scientists unearth another peg on the family tree of T. rex

Scientists unearth another peg on the family tree of T. rex
NEW YORK - Scientists scouring the badlands of northwestern China have dug up fossils of what could be the earliest known ancestors of Tyrannosaurus rex. Unlike the latter, which was a terrifying predator, this species called as Guanlong wucaii (crown dragon from the land of five colors), was just about 10 feet long and had a mystifying crest atop its head, scientists confirmed in a report appearing in today's issue of the journal Nature.

The primitive creature inhabited the Earth about 160 million years ago, much before the T. rex which is thought to have roamed the world about 90 million years ago. The fossils were discovered in the same general area where the Chinese film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was filmed. James Clark of the George Washington University and Xing Xu of the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at Beijing discovered the fossils.

Dr Clark said the new discovery "shows us how ancestors of tyrannosaurus took the first step that led to the giant T. rex almost 100 million years later." Clark and Xu decided to venture into the Chinese badlands after they read reports of oil prospectors saying that they had found some fossils there in 1970.

"You depend on previous discoveries. You get as many people as you can and start looking at outcrops,” Clark admitted at a news conference. He added that the excavators had first unearthed only one skeleton in 2002, but later found another one after chipping away at the mud encasing the first one. Through analysis has revealed that the first skeleton is that of a 12-year-old adult animal, while the second one is that of a seven-year-old "juvenile."

Clark said that the puzzling crest atop the snout of this creature is not a common feature in meat-eating dinosaurs. He added that the researchers had also unearthed other predators in the area, but the Guanlong could outrun them all.