Science / Medicine : Prehistoric Lizard Fossil Discovered in Gobi Desert

Scientists have found fossil remains of a previously unknown eight-foot lizard that may have attacked baby dinosaurs, a researcher reported last week. A well-preserved skull and a forelimb of the beast, about 80 million years old, were unearthed in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, said Michael Novacek, vice president and dean of science at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

The creature apparently resembled today’s Komodo dragon--the largest living lizard, reaching lengths of more than 11 feet in Southeast Asian jungles, Novacek said. The present-day animal has been known to attack and consume human adults.

The ancient lizard, perhaps a juvenile, may have eaten young dinosaurs or dinosaur eggs. Its bones were found near a dinosaur nesting site that contained eight eggs, Novacek said. The find occurred during an expedition Novacek called the first to Mongolia by Western paleontologists in 65 years.