BERLIN // Fossil collectors in Germany have unearthed one of the best-preserved dinosaur skeletons ever found - a meat-eating baby theropod that looks like a tiny Tyrannosaurus - and is fast gaining media fame, aided by its unlikely cuteness.
Just 72 centimetres long, the fossil is believed to be 150 million years old and was found 98 per cent intact in chalk ground near Kelheim, in Bavaria, southern Germany, two years ago. Even some of its skin and hair-like filaments that are an early form of feathers - so-called "protofeathers" - are preserved.
The discovery was a closely guarded secret until now. The fossil has undergone scientific tests and will be put on public display for the first time on October 27 at the Munich Show, a major international exhibition of minerals, gems and fossils.
"This is one of the most complete dinosaur skeletons ever found worldwide," Oliver Rauhut, curator at the Bavarian State Collection of Palaeontology and Geology, who led an international team that examined the animal, said in an interview.
"When I first saw it, it was hard to believe it was real because it was so well preserved. It looked as if it had been made by someone to hang in their living room. But tests quickly showed it was genuine."
Theropods, which include the fearsome Tyrannosaurus, are among the rarest dinosaur finds. The fossil found is not a Tyrannosaurus but a new species of previously unknown dinosaur.
Mr Rauhut said the find was of "outstanding scientific importance" because of the completeness of the skeleton, the presence of hair-like filamentous structures on it, and its youth. It is believed to have been newly born or only up to one year old when it died.
"It is very difficult to say how large the animal would have grown to as an adult. One can't rule out it would have been up to eight or nine metres long but it could also have just been two or three metres," he said.
The large size of the skull in proportion to the rest of the body was a sure sign that it had been very young when it died, he said.
Examinations of juvenile theropods can help shed light on the mechanisms of evolution because recent research indicates that changes in the processes of growing played an important role in how creatures evolved.
The bones of the theropod are even better preserved than those of feathered dinosaurs found in China in the 1990s, researchers said. Those are the only ones which are similarly complete, but they are millions of years younger.
"The great thing about this discovery is the preservation of the bones," said Mr Rauhut. "Similarly complete skeletons were found in China of feathered dinosaurs. They look great from afar but if you study them under the microscope, you can see that the bone preservation isn't that great."
A further remarkable aspect of the Kelheim discovery is the preservation of thick hair-like structures on parts of the animal. Hair on dinosaurs has been a focus of research because it could have developed into the feathers that were first detected on fossils of Archaeopteryx, the oldest known bird, which were found in Germany in the 19th century. That discovery suggested dinosaurs may have evolved into birds.
"This new theropod is probably the most significant fossil found on German soil since the discoveries of the original bird Archaeopteryx," Mr Rauhut said.
The little dinosaur with its mouth wide open to reveal little fangs is fast gaining fame in Germany, where one radio station has launched a phone-in to name it. Bild, the country's main tabloid newspaper, has already come up with one - "Baby-Schnapposaurus" - because it looks as if it wants to snap at someone's heels.
"He is winning a lot of hearts in Bavaria. People here are really moved by him," Dan Ravasz, spokesman for the Munich Show, said in an interview. "You can almost recognise his personality because he looks so lively and happy, as if he's hopping about the place. You can even see his little teeth."
Mr Rauhut said it was impossible to say what killed the animal but it may have drowned. The fossil has been registered as a German cultural treasure, which means it can never be sold.
