72 million- Year-Old Dinosaur Tail Found in Mexico Desert

The remains of a 72 million-year-old dinosaur tail have been discovered in a desert in Mexico, according to the National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH).

The 16-feet long tail is the first dinosaur tail to be discovered in the region. Researchers from INAH and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) said that the tail belonged to a dinosaur called the hadrosaur or the duck-billed dinosaurs.

The hardrosaurs roamed in Europe, Asia, and North America and were the descendants of the earlier iguanodontid dinosaurs. Other fossil remains show that they had webbed feet.

The Archaeologists found about 50 vertebrates of the tail in a town called General Cepeda. They say that the tail might have been half the length of the dinosaur's body, Reuters reported.

The excavation took about 20 days, INAH said in a news release.

"For the biological study of dinosaurs this finding is important because we will have a sequence that will reveal the characteristics of the vertebrae. How they will be seen differentiating in size depending on their position in the spine, "said Angel Ramirez Velasco, science teacher and a member of the group that dug-up the fossil.

The fossilized bones have cartilage tissue that can be used to study biomechanics of the tail, she added.

The skeleton was discovered in May, 2005 by José López and Rodolfo Espinoza and was reported to the INAH in 2012.

Now, archaeologists have shifted the bones to a nearby laboratory, where they will be cleaned, identified and consolidated, INAH said.