Dinosaur Bone Soup Scoffed
By Sarah Gillham
Next time you're forced in to a visit the doctor or local medicine man don't be surprised if your recipe for recovery takes the form of a prescription for dinosaur bones, boiled with carrot and broccoli and maybe some seasoning to taste. OK, this may never be the norm here in the UK (or in many other parts of the world for that matter), but for the Chinese this is not so far from reality. Until recently, villagers in central China have based remedies on a belief in the bones' magical healing powers.
The villagers, from China's central Henan Province were ecstatic after finding a ton of what they believed were bones of flying dragons with healing powers. In order to obtain the full healing potential, the villagers boiled them in soup or ground them into a fine powder for use in traditional medicine.
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The dinosaurs’ bones, one of which is believed to be the heaviest in Asia, are currently being displayed in Zhengzhou, in central China, next to a full size mock-up of the real thing.
The 'dragon' fossils had proved to be quite the little money-spinner. They were sold in the Henan province for 4 yuen per kilogram (approximately 26 pence at today's rates).
However, villagers kindly donated 200 kilograms for research to Dong Zhimeng, a professor at the Institute of Vertebra Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology once they realised they had been deceived.
"They had believed that the 'dragon bones' were from the dragons flying in the sky," said Professor Dong, who has yet to formally identify the specimens.
The dragon soups were often fed to children to cure dizziness and cramps or made in to a paste and applied to fractures, both practices which have been going on for decades.
Doc Dong was lucky enough to be among a team of scientists excavating a 60 foot long plant eating dinosaur from the Henan’s Ruyang County. It is thought that this dinosaur lived up to 100 million years ago.
And now he’ll either be one of the healthiest, most ailment free men on earth or just have some really interesting research on his hands.
Get more from the Null - follow these links:
- Weird - Boy screams chickens to death
- Funny - Dinosaurs living in Streatham
- Sad - Villagers duped in ant scam
- Cool - Dinosaur proteins extracted
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