Scientists discover highly well-preserved dinosaur with oldest belly button ever known
‘Exceptionally-preserved’ fossil has allowed scientists to document scales, tail bristles, and first-ever dinosaur cloaca
Paleontologists have discovered the oldest belly button known to science in the fossil remains of a parrot-beaked dinosaur found in China.
In the research, scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) analysed the 125-million-year-old fossil of a 2m-long, two-legged herbivorous dinosaur unearthed in China 20 years ago.
The study, published earlier this month in the journal BMC Biology, used an advanced laser-imaging technique to analyse a fossilised skin specimen of the Psittacosaurus mongoliensis dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period about 145 million to 66 million years ago.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies