'Mud Dragon' fossil shows dinosaurs thrived on eve of destruction

The last-ditch struggle of Tongtianlong limosus as it was mired in mud is seen in an undated artist reconstruction. Zhao Chuang/Handout via REUTERS

In a humid, tropical jungle in southern China eons ago, a remarkably bird-like dinosaur with wing-like arms, a toothless beak and a dome-shaped crest atop its head became trapped in mud, struggled in vain to escape and died.

Workmen blasting bedrock while building a school near the city of Ganzhou unearthed a beautifully preserved fossil of the roughly 6.5-foot-long (2-meter-long) dinosaur, nicknamed the "Mud Dragon," still in that contorted position, scientists said on Thursday.