June 13, 2007 — One of the world's top fossil hunters unveiled a previously unknown gigantic, chicken-like dinosaur Wednesday. The finding could change evolutionary theory on prehistoric animals.
The remains of the animal, thought to have weighed 3,100 pounds, was discovered in a freak find by Xing Xu in the Erlian basin in Inner Mongolia, an area rich with fossils, the scientist said.
The new species, named Gigantoraptor erlianensis, is the biggest bird-like dinosaur ever found, and at a height of 17 feet is comparable in size to the famous Tyrannosaurus, Xing said.
The 85 million-year-old creature was 35 times heavier than other known similar species, and is thought to have had a beak and sporadic patches of feathers, according to a paper to be released in the journal Nature on Thursday.
"If you saw a mouse as big as a pig you would be very surprised, it is the same when we found the Gigantoraptor," Xing, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, told reporters on Wednesday.
"The new dinosaur is much larger than its relatives of the similar species. We have spent a year to confirm its features and characteristics," he added.
The find may contradict an evolutionary theory that as carnivorous dinosaurs got smaller they became more bird like, the Nature paper said.
Xing discovered the first femur of the Gigantoraptor in 2005 during the shooting of a documentary about one of his previous finds.
The crew asked him to demonstrate how he finds fossils and during the shot, he chanced upon a section of the femur, or thigh bone.
"We randomly picked up a bone on the surface," Xing said.
"We initially thought it was from the same species as we had discovered before, but minutes later we realized it was from a meat-eating dinosaur.
"This big size is very unusual for a meat-eater and only a Tyrannosaur is of similar size."
Xing's team then embarked on further digs which uncovered an extensive collection of bones, followed by a lengthy verification process, leading to the release of the latest paper, which suggests the huge 11 year old was only partly grown.
