Scientists were baffled by the discovery of a partially preserved skeleton resembling a dinosaur — with flesh still on its bones.
The skeleton was found in Jaspur, a small city in Uttarakhand, India, by an electrician in a derelict substation that had been left untouched for 35 years.
The creature is 28 centimeters long and it resembles several known types of dinosaurs, including the Deinonychus, the Coelophysis, and the Dromaeosaurus.
Dinosaurs first appeared on Earth about 245 million years ago, and they dominated the planet until an extinction event wiped out a large swath of life about 65 million years ago. But this discovery of a mysterious creature resembling a dinosaur has confused scientists. The remains of this animal will be analyzed, including carbon dating, which will reveal its age.
Parag Madhukar Dhakate, a conservator with the Indian Forest Service, said, “It looks like a dinosaur, but we can’t say anything until all the tests are done.”
According to Aaryan Kumar, a doctoral student in paleontology from Delhi University, it is not possible for a dinosaur skeleton to be so well preserved after so long.
Kumar said: “Non-avian dinosaurs have been extinct for the past 65 million years but it does resemble theropods, a suborder of dinosaurs which included bipedal carnivores. But a dinosaur skeleton could not have been found in such a well-preserved condition after millions of years without it being in a fossilized state. The only even slightly possible way is it was chemically preserved to store it in a museum. But if that was the case, how did it end up here?”
