--- SEARCH ---
WEATHER
CHINA
INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS
CULTURE
GOVERNMENT
SCI-TECH
ENVIRONMENT
LIFE
PEOPLE
TRAVEL
WEEKLY REVIEW
Learning Chinese
Learn to Cook Chinese Dishes
Exchange Rates
Hotel Service


Hot Links
China Development Gateway
Chinese Embassies

More Fossils of Indricotherium Discovered in Xinjiang
Chinese archaeologists have found more fossils of Indricotherium, a kind of gigantic rhinoceros that lived more than 25 million years ago, in Shanshan County in the Turpan area of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The fossil is only the second of an Indricotherium found in that area of Xinjiang, according to relics authorities of Turpan Prefecture.

The first Indricotherium was found in Turpan in 1993. The restored rhinoceros, nine meters long and six meters high, is now displayed at the Museum of Turpan Prefecture.

Archaeologists with the Turpan Prefectural Relics Bureau said the fossil found in Shanshan County is the same as that found in 1993 in terms of date and type.

They said the fossil was partly exposed when discovered, adding the size and composition of the entire skeleton might remain unknown.

Li Baomin, deputy director of Shanshan County Cultural Heritage Bureau, said financial help and manpower was needed to make a full excavation.

A total of 5 million yuan was used to unearth and restore the fossils found in 1993.

Li said the discovery of rhinoceros fossils provided material evidence that Turpan was a home to wild animals about 24 million years ago.

Some archaeologists believe more fossils of Indricotherium are yet to be found in the area.

The Indricotherium, also known as Baluchitherium and Paracaratherium, was a long-necked, hornless rhinoceros that lived in Asia, especially in the open woodlands of what is now Pakistan and China, during the Oligocene and early Miocene eras (about 37 million to 25 million years ago). This extinct ungulate (hoofed mammal) had three toes on each foot like modern rhinoceroses.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2002)

Fossils of Pterodactyl Dinosaur Found in NE China
Chinese Scientists Find Earliest Worm Fossil
Liaoning Bans Random Excavation of Fossils
China Writes Major Chapter on World's Dinosaur Research
Scientists Closer to Understanding Earth's Depopulation 65 Million Years Ago
Dinosaur Discovery Sheds Light on Origin of Flight
Print This Page
|
Email This Page
About Us SiteMap Feedback
Copyright © China Internet Information Center. All Rights Reserved
E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-68326688