The mysterious dinosaur of the Internet

2001/08/29 Carton Virto, Eider - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

So many mysteries relate directly to the smuggling of fossils. The account began on August 20. A fossil seller from Edmonton (Canada) sent this photo and others from the same fossil to the DINOSAUR Internet mailing list and came to the hands of paleontologists. The fossil seller says the photos were sent by a member of France who knows who has sold the fossil and who bought it, but did not want to give it its name.

The specimens of Psittacosaurus measured between 1 and 2 meters.

At the moment, little has been known about the fossil. It is believed that it was discovered in China, in the western province of Liaoning, and it is suspected that a few years ago it was illegally removed from there. The rumors say it is in a German museum, but there is nothing clear. In the scientific literature, the fossil has never been described, and in no conference it has realized this.

Paleontologists want to have the fossil in their hands, since it is not possible to carry out a serious study with photographs of pixels. The fossil corresponds to a specimen of the species Psittacosaurus and the stripes that appear on the tail have awakened this interest. It is not clear what these very long filaments are in the form of hairs, but it is believed that they can be an ancient feature of all dinosaurs.

However, paleontologists have been cautious of the falsity of some fossils that have come out illegally from China. Without going further, in December last year it was shown that the amazing fossil of the Archaeoraptor, half a dinosaur bird, was totally false. Someone glued a primitive bird and a dinosaur together.