OKAYAMA — A joint research team from Japan and Mongolia has discovered the rare fossilized skeleton of a young Tarbosaurus, a giant carnivorous dinosaur linked to the Tyrannosaur, in the Gobi Desert.
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| Terrifying lizard: A researcher at the Okayama office of Japanese biotech firm Hayashibara Co. points Thursday to a replica of the fossilized young Tarbosaurus found in the Gobi Desert. In the foreground is a replica of the dinosaur's skull and at right is a replica of its left hind leg.
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It is the first discovery of an almost complete skeleton of a young dinosaur of the species, experts said, expressing hope it will lead to more understanding of the largely unknown growth process of the Tarbosaurus.
The fossilized remains were found in 2006 in the Gobi Desert in a geologic layer that dated from about 70 million years ago in the late Cretaceous period, by the team comprising members from Hayashibara Co., a biotechnology firm based in the city of Okayama, and from the Center of Paleontology under the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.
"We were so lucky to have found remains that turned out to be a complete set of all the important parts," said Takuji Yokoyama, a spokesman for the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences.