{"id":549854,"date":"2026-03-20T21:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549854\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T21:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:56:08","slug":"new-dinosaur-species-discovered-in-south-korea-for-the-first-time-in-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549854\/","title":{"rendered":"New dinosaur species discovered in South Korea for the first time in 15 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">South Korea\u2019s first new dinosaur species in 15 years has been officially named, and it comes with a surprising twist. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Doolysaurus huhmini was discovered in 2023 on Aphae Island, with researchers revealing that the turkey-sized dinosaur was a fast, two-legged omnivore. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Co-author Hyemin Jo uncovered\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/fr.pensoft.net\/article\/178152\">the fossil<\/a> and later analyzed it using micro-CT imaging, allowing scientists to examine internal structures without damaging the specimen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Unlike many Korean dinosaur finds, which are mostly footprints and eggs, Doolysaurus includes preserved skull material. Because of this, Dooly is one of the most significant body fossil discoveries in the country, as it helps researchers better understand how small dinosaurs lived in Asia 113 to 94 million years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p>Meet Doolysaurus huhmini<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Scientists estimate that the skeleton of the tiny dino is between zero and two years old, while stomach stones found alongside the fossil, suggest it had a more flexible diet. While many related dinosaurs were primarily herbivores, the team says Doolysaurus likely ate both plants and small animals.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Scientists have now classified the Dooly as an early dinosaur from the Thescelosauridae family, a fast-moving, plant-eating species that walked on two legs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">The find also adds weight to the idea that these dinosaurs may have originated in Asia before spreading to other parts of the world.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">As for the cute dinosaur\u2019s name, Doolysaurus is a reference to \u201cDooly the Little Dinosaur,\u201d a popular cartoon character created in 1983, while \u201chuhmini\u201d honors paleontologist Min Huh for his contributions to dinosaur research in Korea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Researchers say the discovery could point to more fossils waiting to be uncovered in the region, particularly on Aphae Island, where similar rock formations remain largely unexplored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s first new dinosaur species in 15 years has been officially named, and it comes with a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-549854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}