Illustration by Lida Xing/ University of Alberta, Canada
Illustration by Lida Xing/ University of Alberta, Canada

Holy moly, this is cool. A new dinosaur discovered in China boasts a neck that takes up more than half the length of its body.

The new dinosaur called Qijianglong (pronounced “CHI-jyang-lon”) — the name means “dragon of Qijiang” — is about 15 meters long (just over 49 feet) and lived more than 160 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period, according to the paleontologists who found it. The dinosaur was uncovered in 2006 by construction workers, when their “digging … hit a series of large neck vertebrae stretched out in the ground,” according to the University of Alberta’s site.

Their finding is significant because “the new species belongs to a group of dinosaurs called mamenchisaurids, known for their extremely long necks sometimes measuring up to half the length of their bodies. Most sauropods, or long-necked dinosaurs, have necks only about one-third the length of their bodies.” Its neck vertebrae was mostly filled with air, making it incredible light, therefore allowing it to be so long.

They recently published their findings in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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