ST. PETERSBURG, May 7. /TASS/. Paleontologists from Saint Petersburg State University have unearthed the remains of giant herbivorous dinosaurs in Yakutia’s Suntar Region, and this discovery may change the current view on ancient pangolins, expert Pavel Skuchas told TASS on Tuesday.
The remains are about 130 million years old. Those were very primitive species, and similar animals in the southern regions had gone extinct much earlier, the scientist said.
"We were lucky to find dinosaur bones and thus prove that they had lived in those places," the scientist continued. "We have discovered giant dinosaurs, and at this stage we assume they come from a well-known Chinese family."
"The bones that we 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 those fossils had once lived — very primitive for their time."
The paleontologists found bones of the stegosaurs — large four-legged dinosaurs, which had spikes on their tails and ridges on their backs. They were herbivores. Scientists have carried on studies and hope to describe a new, previously unknown species of dinosaurs.
According to the expert, the findings can provide more information about where the dinosaurs had lived and how they spread out. Formerly, specialists thought stegosaurs did not chew their food, but only grabbed it with teeth and swallowed it immediately.
"The traditional scientific descriptions read that they would grab a branch and swallow the leaves without chewing it, thus, respectively, their teeth were not worn down," the scientist told TASS.
"However, the teeth that we found have worn away, in a complex way, so we believe the dinosaurs that we have found chewed their 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 Saint 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.