Chinese and Japanese scientists have discovered 75 dinosaur fossil footprints on a 200- square-meter rock in the county of Luanping in north China's Hebei Province, some 150 kilometers from Beijing.

The scientists believe that the dinosaurs, both carnivorous and herbivorous, inhabited the earth 130 million years ago. The recent discovery includes footprints of the plant-eating dinosaur of the genus iguanodon whose body was 10 meters long and had legs more than two meters long.

This is the first time that scientists have discovered footprints of the iguanodon in Asia. Scientists from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology attached to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as from Institutes from Tokyo and Chiba in Japan believe that the footprints were left by the dinosaur when it migrated eastward from Europe.

Scientists are expecting more finds in the area. Experts have come up with suggestions on how the government can protect the area.

To date, scientists have discovered many fossils of dinosaur footprints, aquatic animals and plants in Luanping. (Xinhua)