London: The century-old theory of an island ruled by "dwarf dinosaurs" some 65 million years ago has finally been approved by scientists.
A team of paleontologists led by Prof Mike Benton from the University of Bristol has claimed that such an prehistoric "lost world" did exist as suggested by Hungarian-born paleontologis Baron Franz Nopcsa some 100 years ago.
Nopcsa's theory was based on the findings of several dinosaur fossils from Hateg Island, Romania. The dinosaur were half of the size of their close relatives in older rocks in England, Germany, and North America.
For the first time, Prof Benton and his team that carried out investigations into the theory found the Hateg Island dinosaurs were indeed dwarfs and not just young dinosaurs.
Prof Benton said: "The general idea is that larger animals that find themselves isolated on an island either become extinct because there is not enough space for a reasonably-sized population to survive, or they adapt.
"One way to adapt is to become smaller, generation by generation."
The team examined the remains of three species of Hateg dinosaurs -- the plant-eating sauropod Magyarosaurus and the plant-eating ornithopods Telmatosaurus and Zalmoxes.
They found no evidence of any large bones such as they would expect to find in their normal-sized relatives, the Telegraph reported.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 26, 2010, 09:06