 |
Recent Discoveries: Ancient Innards
|
A 113-million-year-old baby dinosaur fossil was found in the Pietraroia limestone formation in Italy's
Benevento province with much of its soft tissue intact, including muscles, intestines, and liver. The
extraordinary discovery of this prehistoric creature's fossilized organs is expected to provide scientists
with important information about dinosaur anatomy.
The nine-inch dinosaur specimen was named Scipionyx and belongs to the group called theropods, which
includes Tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptors. Although the unique fossil was discovered by an amateur
paleontologist a decade ago, it was not recognized as dinosaur remains until recently. It is the first
dinosaur fossil ever found in Italy.
 Next
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
|
|