A new species of a bird-like dinosaur that weighed three tons and was eight metres long has been discovered in China.
Enormous fossilised eggs from the creature, Beibeilong sinensis, were found in Henan province, measuring 45cm across and weighing about 5kg.
Based on analysis of the fossil of a hatchling that died while breaking out of one of the eggs, experts say the adult would have weighed around three tons.
Its size was estimated by studying the bones of the youngster and comparing with other dinosaurs.
The creature had feathers and a beak, but its primitive wings meant it was not able to fly.
It would also have dwarfed other dinosaurs of the same type, known as Oviraptorosaurs, which were around two metres long.
Professor Darla Zelenitsky, from the University of Calgary, writing in the journal Nature Communications, said because of the eggs’ size it was previously believed they may have belonged to a Tyrannosaur.
She added: “Thanks to this fossil, we now know that these eggs were laid by a gigantic Oviraptorosaur, a dinosaur that would have looked a lot like an overgrown cassowary.
“It would have been a sight to behold with a three-ton animal like this sitting on its nest of eggs.”
The name of the dinosaur was based on the stillborn baby and translates as “baby dragon from China”.
