Dinosaur Publications

Dinosaurs of the Asian North-East

At the end of the 19th century after visiting Russia and a successful search for dinosaurs in the paleontological collections of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, the American palaeontologist, Professor Charles Othniel Marsh stated ironically "Russian dinosaurs are as well as the Snakes of Ireland are remarkable for their absence".

However, as paleontologist Bolotsky and others write (newspaper "Ainurskaya Pravda" 17 August 2002):

Teeth (photo 1)

Cossack-fishermen found dinosaur bones along the bank precipices of the Amur River in the South-East of Russia. It was the first discovery of dinosaur bones in Asia.

It was followed by dinosaurs from a Cretaceous locality (145-69 million years ago) in the area of Blagoveschensk City, and from the south-eastern part of Amurskaya oblast near the village of Kundur in the South- East of Russia. In 2001 the skeleton of a new genus and species (Olorotitan archarensis Bolotsky et Godefroit) was found at Kundur. The material, that of a big hadrosaurian, phytivorous dinosaur, reached 12 metres in length.

Besides these, bones of some predatory dinosaurs’ species including tyrannosaurs, the biggest and the most bloodthirsty terrestrial creature in the history of the Earth were discovered in Kundur. There are also remains of Late Mesozoic turtles and crocodiles.

The most northerly locality for dinosaurs of Late Jurassic age (160-145 mm years ago) was found in Siberia by geologists in the territory of Yakutia in the basin of the Vilui River. It is known as Teteh.

In 1988 and 2002 this locality was visited by palaeontologists who gathered bone material of phytivorous and predatory dinosaurs. For instance, teeth (photo 1) of predatory dinosaurs of the allosaurid and dromaeosaurid families and phytivores of the Order Stegosauria (photo 2) were found. Other material included phalanxes and claws of predatory dinosaurs, vertebrae, parts of ribs and bones of different dinosaurs.

It is notable that in 2002 the expedition, headed by myself, found a vertebra of a small (length up to 30 cm.) freshwater lizard type of fish-eating reptile Choristodera. This is the very Northern discovery of Choristodera in Asia.

Order Stegosauria (photo 2)

The above-mentioned fauna of vertebrates is similar in character to that of the Morrison Formation (North America). The material from the Teteh locality was identified by palaeontologists and biologists from the Paleontology Institute (Moscow), including Sergey Kurzanov, Yuri Gubin and Michail Efimov.

At the time, when these dinosaurs lived on Earth, North America and Asia were not separate and the same species were widely spread across both America and Asia. However, the dinosaurs of Teteh may be closer to the Late Jurassic dinosaurs of China.

The Palaeontological Ecological Expedition of 2002 was financed by the Department of Biological Resources of the Ministry of Nature Protection of the Republic Sakha (Yakutia) and the Administration of Suntarsky Ulus. Three schoolchildren and a teacher took part. The journey to Teteh took us through areas of taiga and mars (a mar is a woodless area, a taiga is full of bushes) It took 3 days on horseback. Teteh is a very interesting and beautiful region and we were surrounded by virgin forests.

We made our camp on the edge of a long mar near the Teteh brook. In the center of the camp there was a tall larch, the crown of which looked like a huge balloon. There was a nest of squirrels near the camp with 5 baby squirrels present. They saw people for the first time.

During our stay in Teteh they grew considerably. When drinking tea in the morning we often watched them having fir-cones for breakfast, looking at us from time to time. The Mother-squirrel tried to take its children away from us, but one squirrels-child didn’t want to leave the tree with the nest.

Teteh researches are planned to continue. We would like to search for dinosaurs in other areas near Teteh.

Peter Kolossov

29.10.2002 Paleontologist, Doctor of Geology, Russia, Yakutsk

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