{"id":362464,"date":"2026-03-24T11:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/362464\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:39:08","slug":"new-dinosaur-named-for-iconic-korean-cartoon-character-dooly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/362464\/","title":{"rendered":"New dinosaur named for iconic Korean cartoon character Dooly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>This is an artist\u2019s depiction of the new South Korean juvenile dinosaur, Doolysaurus huhmini. Also in the image are birds and other dinosaurs that lived during the mid-Cretaceous<\/a> of present-day South Korea. Image via Jun Seong Yi\/ University of Texas at Austin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Scientists discovered a new baby dinosaur in South Korea. They named it Doolysaurus, after a beloved Korean cartoon character.
\nThey scanned the fossil using micro-CT technology, revealing hidden bones and skull parts without disturbing the rock.
\nThe researchers also found over 40 stomach stones with the bones. These suggest Doolysaurus was an omnivore that ate both plants and small animals.<\/p>\n

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, subscribe to EarthSky\u2019s free daily newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

The small, fuzzy, baby dinosaur may have looked like a lamb<\/p>\n

Scientists have discovered the fossils of a rather charming baby dinosaur in South Korea. The researchers from the University of Texas at Austin said<\/a> on March 19, 2026, that it was an omnivorous, turkey-sized youngster, about two years old. And it ran around on its hind feet. Plus, researchers think it might have had a coat of fuzzy hair-like filaments. They named it Doolysaurus huhmini, after a cute and mischievous green baby dinosaur named Dooly<\/a>. Dooly is a much-loved character in a South Korean cartoon series. <\/p>\n

Jongyun Jung<\/a>, at the University of Texas at Austin, is the lead author of the new paper. Jung said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Dooly is one of the very famous, iconic dinosaur characters in Korea. Every generation in Korea knows this character. And our specimen is also a juvenile or \u2018baby,\u2019 so it\u2019s perfect for our dinosaur species name to honor Dooly.<\/p>\n

Julia Clarke<\/a>, also at the University of Texas at Austin, is a paper co-author. She added: <\/p>\n

I think it would have been pretty cute. It might have looked a bit like a little lamb.<\/p>\n

The peer-reviewed<\/a> journal Fossil Record published<\/a> the new paper on March 19, 2026. <\/p>\n

A video introduction to Dooly, a beloved baby dinosaur cartoon character in South Korea. The video is in Korean.<\/p>\n

A high-tech dinosaur reveal<\/p>\n

Researchers have found dinosaur tracks and eggs in Korea before, but dinosaur bones have been rare. In fact, Doolysaurus is the first dinosaur described from fossilized bones in South Korea in 15 years. Paper co-author Hyemin Jo<\/a> found the fossil in 2023 on Aphae Island, located off the southwestern coast of South Korea. <\/p>\n

The fossil was a partial skeleton entombed in hard rock. As a result, scientists had to excavate the rock containing the fossils as a block, with bones still buried inside. A fossil preparator will need several years to gently recover the delicate fossils. <\/p>\n

But the scientists did not have to wait that long to find out what was hidden in the block. They scanned its interior using micro computed tomography (micro-CT<\/a>) at the University of Texas at Austin. This technique uses X-rays to probe the rock, revealing three-dimensional images of what lies within it.<\/p>\n

The researchers were delighted to see that the micro-CT scans revealed more bones, including parts of the skull. Jung commented:<\/p>\n

When we first found the specimen, we saw some leg bones preserved and some vertebrae. We didn\u2019t expect skull parts and so many more bones. There was a fair amount of excitement when we saw what was hidden inside the block.<\/p>\n

This was a significant finding because it\u2019s the first dinosaur with parts of its skull, including teeth, that scientists have recovered in South Korea.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>This figure shows the probable skeletal anatomy of the juvenile Doolysaurus huhmini. The white shade represents the fossil bones found inside the block. Also, the bones around the skeletal figure are micro-CT<\/a> scans of each bone. Image via Janet Ca\u00f1amar, adapted from Jung et al 2026\/ University of Texas at Austin<\/a>.
\nWhat we know about Doolysaurus<\/p>\n

As previously mentioned, the dinosaur\u2019s genus<\/a> name, Doolysaurus, celebrates the beloved Korean cartoon dinosaur, Dooly. Meanwhile, its species name, huhmini, honors the prominent Korean paleontologist Min Huh<\/a>. He founded the Korean Dinosaur Research Center and has studied Korean dinosaurs for more than 30 years. <\/p>\n

Scientists found Doolysaurus in rock dating between 113 million to 94 million years ago, placing the dinosaur in the mid-Cretaceous<\/a> period. It was a juvenile, around two years old, when it died. The researchers were able to determine its approximate age by studying growth markers visible in a thin slice of the dinosaur\u2019s femur. It was the size of a turkey and may have weighed just 18 pounds (8.3 kg). Moreover, the scientists think that an adult Doolysaurus could have been double that size. <\/p>\n

The bones also placed Doolysaurus in the Thescelosaurid<\/a> family of dinosaurs. Scientists have found these types of dinosaurs in East Asia and North America; they were bi-pedal and may have had a coat of fuzzy hair-like filaments. <\/p>\n

\"Four<\/a>This is a photo featuring 3 of the paper authors. It also includes the person that the scientists honored with the new dinosaur species name, Doolysaurus huhmini. From left to right: Julia Clarke, Min Huh (partly named in his honor), Hyemin Jo and Jongyun Jung. Image via Jongyun Jung\/ University of Texas at Austin<\/a>.
\nThey also found gastroliths<\/p>\n

The scientists also found over 40 pebbles among the bones in the block, ranging in size from 1\/16th to 4\/10th of an inch (2 to 10 mm). These are gastroliths<\/a>, also called stomach stones. Herbivorous and omnivorous dinosaurs swallowed pebbles to grind food in their digestive tract. (Some living animals, such as crocodiles, alligators and herbivorous birds, also carry gastroliths.)<\/p>\n

The size and shape of the gastroliths they found suggested that Doolysaurus was an omnivore. It likely fed on plants and small animals including insects. In fact, it was the presence of some gastroliths at the surface of the rock that led the scientists to scan the block to look for additional bones. Clark remarked:<\/p>\n

A little cluster of stomach stones, with two leg bones sticking out, indicates that the animal was not fully pulled apart before it has hit the fossil record. So, I encouraged [Jung and co-authors Minguk Kim and Hyemin Jo] to visit Texas and the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (UTCT<\/a>) [facility], to try scanning the fossil.<\/p>\n

Because the researchers found Doolysaurus largely encased in rock, they hope more dinosaur bones await discovery in South Korea. Jung also hopes to continue using micro-CT technology to expose more hidden fossils. <\/p>\n

Bottom line: Scientists discovered a new dinosaur, thought to be two years old, and named it after Dooly, a popular South Korean baby dinosaur cartoon character. <\/p>\n

Source: A new dinosaur species from Korea and its implications for early-diverging neornithischian diversity<\/a><\/p>\n

Via University of Texas at Austin<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more: Spectacular new Spinosaurus found in Niger, Africa<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more: The most exciting dinosaur discoveries of 2025<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is an artist\u2019s depiction of the new South Korean juvenile dinosaur, Doolysaurus huhmini. Also in the image…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3224,61,60,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-362464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-earth","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}