ST. PETERSBURG, May 7. /TASS/: Paleontologists from the St. Petersburg State University found in Yakutia’s Suntar Region remains of giant herbivorous dinosaurs, and this finding may change the current view on ancient lizards, the University’s expert Pavel Skuchas told TASS on Tuesday.
The remains are about 130 million years old. Those were very primitive species, and similar animals in southern regions had died much earlier, the scientist said.
"We were lucky to find dinosaur bones and thus to prove that they had lived in those places," the scientist continued. "We have discovered giant dinosaurs, at this stage we suppose they come from a well-known Chinese family."
"The bones we have found are one of the northernmost remains and the northernmost discovery for the Cretaceous Period - about 130 million years ago," he said. "In fact, there used to be a real "Jurassic Park", where lived those fossils - very primitive for their time."
The paleontologists have found bones of stegosaurs - large four-legged dinosaurs, which had spikes on the tail and ridges on the back. They ate plants. Scientists continue studies and hope to describe a new, previously unknown species of dinosaurs.
According to the expert, the findings can give more information about where dinosaurs lived and how they spread. Formerly, specialists thought stegosaurs did not chew their food, but only grabbed it with teeth and swallowed immediately.
"The traditional scientific descriptions read they would grab a branch and swallow the leaves without chewing, thus, respectively, the teeth were not erased," the scientist told TASS. "However, the teeth we have found are strongly erased, in a complex way, so we believe the dinosaurs we have found chewed food actively, and this is why our knowledge about the ancient lizards’ digestion may be reviewed."
Another question the scientists hope to answer is where the dinosaurs living in northern areas could multiply. Traditionally, scientists believe they used to migrate to produce offspring. However, researchers from the St. Petersburg State University managed to find very small bones, which belonged to young dinosaurs. This may indicate that the lizards not only came for a season to the territory of modern Yakutia, but also multiplied there.
