Zhucheng`s Dinosaur bone bed could be the creatures' last stand
By admin on 2014-12-26

Researchers say they can't understand why so many animals gathered in what is today the city of Zhucheng to die. But some 15,000 bones have been found stacked on top of each other in incredible density right at the end of the Cretaceous era, the time when dinosaurs suddenly vanished from the face of the Earth.

The discovery suggests a cataclysm, or perhaps several in succession -- the bones appear to be layered in seven "floors" of sediments, indicating that this may have been the site of serial murders.

Did tsunamis sweep them there? Were they fleeing the ravages of drastic climate change?

Whatever this strange graveyard turns out to be, it unequivocally marks China's ascendancy in the world of dinosaurs science, as this intriguing piece in the Washington Post points out.

We're used to hearing of new T-Rex skulls pulled from the plains of Canada, or beautiful specimens unearthed in Utah. But if the avalanche of wondrous discoveries flowing out of China is any indication, the country is just now entering a golden age of dinosaur-related exploration that will likely change our understanding of these incredible beasts forever. This mysterious bed could be one of the greatest paleontological finds of our generation -- it may be the key to deciphering the story of dinosaurs' last days on Earth.