Mesozoic 'Giraffe' unearthed in China Remains of a dinosaur,
nicknamed the 'Giraffe of the Mesozoic' due to its long neck and
forelimbs, have been discovered in China for the first time.
According to a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B,
Qiaowanlong kangxii, is the first Early Cretaceous brachiosaur
ever found in China. Its name refers to a famous Qing Dynasty
emperor, Kangxi, and also contains the words for 'bridge', 'bend
in a stream', and 'dragon' - references to the site, as well as
a dream the emperor is said to have had. Brachiosaurs, a family
of plant-eating sauropods, are often quite big. One of the
largest mounted skeletons in the world is a Brachiosaurus at the
Humboldt Museum in Berlin. The new species is "relatively small"
by comparison. Co-author Dr Hai-Lu You says the Chinese dinosaur
stood at about 12 metres long, 3 metres tall, and weighed around
9 tonnes. "As a member of the brachiosaurid (family), it has a
long neck and relatively long forelimbs," says Hai-Lu, a
scientist at the