Apr 18 (Japan Times) - What is believed to be Japan’s largest fossilized dinosaur skeleton has been restored as a life-size replica, researchers and officials from the town of Mukawa, in Hokkaido, where the original discovery was made, said Wednesday.
The replica of the 8-meter-long and 4-meter-tall plant-eating Hadrosaurid, dubbed “Mukawaryu,†was created with duplicates of the actual fossils unearthed from a 72 million-year-old geological layer. The replica and the fossils will be displayed at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo for three months from July 13.
“A standing Mukawaryu has been resurrected after 72 million years. I hope it will help liven up our town,†Mukawa Mayor Yoshiyuki Takenaka said.
The excavation involving Hokkaido University members began in 2013 after local fossil collector Yoshiyuki Horita found a fossilized tail bone in 2003 in the Hobetsu district of Mukawa. More than 1,000 fossil bones were eventually unearthed, making it the largest complete dinosaur skeleton ever found in the country.
Complete skeletons are generally defined as containing more than 50 percent of the bones, but for the Mukawaryu, over 80 percent were unearthed as fossils.
