The team excavate a Psittacosaurus in the Gobi desert of Mongolia
Credit: Jack Horner
SYDNEY: An astonishing 67 dinosaurs were found in just one week in the Gobi desert, which straddles northern China and southern Mongolia, by palaeontologist Jack Horner from Montana State University, USA.
Horner led a team of 12 to the find that will hopefully flesh out the developmental biology of dinosaurs. All 67 dinosaurs were mostly complete skeletons of the same species, called Psittacosaurus.
"The reason I went after Psittacosaurus was because I figured I could get more of those dinosaurs in the shortest period of time than any other dinosaur," said Horner, a bearded T-rex expert who once worked as Steven Spielberg's consultant on the Jurassic Park movies. "We were not trying to set a record, but rather to collect as much data as possible for scientific research purposes."
Psittacosaurus is more commonly known as the 'parrot-lizard', a very common plant-eating dinosaur that lived 120 million years ago. Ranging from 0.3 to 1.5 meters long, it was also the ancestor to popular horned dinosaurs like triceratops.
All 67 dinosaurs were found in the Gobi desert, Asia's largest desert, which has long been considered the 'Mecca' of the fossil world. It is so rich with Psittacosaurus fossils that the team found most of their skeletons through simple observation of the area. Only a few were found through quarry excavations.
After finding a skeleton in the ground, the time it took to remove it would "depend on the size of the dinosaur and how much rock its encased in. The average time for excavation of these specimens was about two hours," said Horner.
Now that Horner has such a large number of specimens, it is possible for him to continue his work into the growth strategies of dinosaurs. "I hope to determine species variation and growth variation," he said.
For now, Horner has to be patient. Before he can begin his flurry of measurements he has to wait for casts to be made, since the fossils belong to Mongolia.
Mongolia is also being encouraged to build a museum as the big find will give them specimens to put on display.
Another reason Psittacosaurus was the best dinosaur to go after is because poachers and commercial fossil hunters prefer the rare fossils - some of which are sold for more than US$10 million. The team of 12 did find a rare fossil in addition to the Psittocosaurus. It was similar to a raptor and could possibly be a new species.
Not that Horner cared about any of that. "We find new species all the time. ... A hundred Psittacosauruses are a lot more interesting to me than new species."
