Unique Dinosaur Discovered in Russia's Amur Region

The burial ground of ancient lizards was accidentally found by road builders

Members of the Russian-Belgian paleontological expedition found unique bones of dinosaurs and other ancient inhabitants of the planet in the Russian Amur region, not far from the settlement of Kundur. RIA Novosti reported about this on Tuesday with reference to Yury Bolotsky, chairman of the Russian group of scientists, candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences. Yury Bolotsky said, explorers had discovered the remnants of a rare crocodile, two tortoises and a skeleton of a dinosaur.

The Russian-Belgian expedition has been working in the Amur region for more than a month already. Scientists said, it was the second expedition to seach for dinosaur bones, the concentration of which was accidentally discovered four years ago. Federal Chita-Khabarovsk highway builders found unusual bones during their works. A group of scientists arrived at the site of the discovery very soon. Yury Bolotsky, the chairman of the group, said, scientists had found both separate bones, as well as a complete skeleton of a dinosaur.

As it turned out, it was a helmet-headed hadrosaurus, a duck-billed, plant-eating dinosaur. Russian paleontologists called it "Olorotitan Arkharenzin," or a "giant swan from Arkhara" (a settlement in Russia's Far East). Having examined the dinosaurs' burial ground, Belgian scientists signed an agreement on joint excavations and studies of ancient lizards. The agreement was signed for the period until 2005. Belgian scientists say the expedition of the current year is very interesting because they have had a unique possibility to find the fossil evidence of dinosaurs during the latest period of their existence on the planet.