A Really Long Nap

Roughly 130 million years after it lay down for a snooze, a small dinosaur is making science news. Paleontologists recently found the fossilized dinosaur in China. What makes it a one-of-a-kind find is that the dinosaur, a troodontid, died while resting and was fossilized in its sleeping position.

Named Meilong-or "soundly sleeping dragon"-it is only about the size of a duck. But size isn't the only thing Meilong and a duck have in common. The sleeping dino had its long hind limbs folded beneath it. Its small head was tucked under its left elbow. The only creatures today that sleep like that are birds.

Is this unique sleeping position further proof that modern birds evolved from small dinosaurs like Meilongl Paleontologists think so. And since today's birds use this tucked-in position to conserve body heat, it may also help to prove that the dinosaur was warmblooded like humans and birds, not coldblooded like modern lizards.

-Galadriel Watson

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