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National Geographics top 10 dinosaur and fossil find stories of 2007

A news story about the excavation a mummified dinosaur in North Dakota remained the biggest hit among National Geographic News readers this year, reports the channels official website.

Washington, December 27 : A news story about the excavation a "mummified" dinosaur in North Dakota remained the biggest hit among National Geographic News readers this year, reports the channel's official website.

The discovery of the 67-million-year-old hadrosaur was announced by scientists on 3 December.

The second most intriguing story was about the fossils remains of a crocodile-like reptile discovered in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, about 5,000 miles from the place they most likely died.

Third on the list was the discovery of a tiny tree frog preserved in amber that could be 25 million years old, while the fourth position went to a fearsome fossil claw find belonging to a 390-million-year-old sea scorpion that would have been the size of a large crocodile.

Wrapping up the top five was the news about a six-month-old female mammoth, which was found frozen in Russia.

This was followed by a report that scientists had moved closer to piecing together the entire genomes of long-dead beasts, though bringing them back to life might not happen soon.

News about more than 100 fossilized dinosaur eggs found in India was at seventh place, while the eighth position went to the report that a bizarre-looking, 78-million-year-old dinosaur had horns as large as human arms, and its skull was frilled with spikes that would have been the size of sharks' teeth.

A fossil skull uncovered in Peru that revealed that penguins the size of people roamed the country's Atacama Desert more than 30 million years ago made it to the ninth position.

The top 10 was wrapped up by the news that a strange-looking dinosaur "mowed" through ground vegetation using its vacuum cleaner-shaped mouth more than a hundred million years ago.

National Geographic News' top 10 dinosaur and fossil finds of 2007:

1. "Dinosaur Mummy" found; has intact skin, tissue (December 3)

2. Jurassic "crocodile" found in Oregon (March 22) . Ancient tree frog found encased in amber (February 17)

4. Giant sea scorpion discovered; was bigger than a man (November 21)

5. "Lovely" baby mammoth found frozen in Russia (July 11)

6. Mammoths to return? DNA advances spur resurrection debate (June 25)

7. Over 100 dinosaur eggs found in India (February 5)

8. Triceratops' "granddaddy" discovered in Canada (March 5)

9. Giant penguins once roamed Peru Desert, fossils show (June 25)

10. Bizarre dinosaur grazed like a cow, study says (November 15)

ANI