China: Dinosaur fossil named after 'Nobita' from famous cartoon Doraemon

A footprint fossil of a new dinosaur discovered in China last year has now been named, “Eubrontes Nobitai” as a tribute to popular cartoon character Nobita from the Japanese animation series Doraemon.

As per reports, the fossil was discovered in July 2020 in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan.

Xing Lida, associate professor at the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, said “Doraemon’s movies featuring dinosaurs were “excellent” and they have been part of childhood memories of many people in China,” backing the decision of naming the fossil after the cartoon character.

Mentioning the 1980 release Nobita’s Dinosaur and Nobita’s New Dinosaur (1920), Xing added that these films made children “come to like” dinosaurs.

The distance between the four footprints discovered at the site is around 50 centimeters and the length of the sole is nearly 30 cms.

Researchers estimated the body length of the animal could have been around 4 meters.

The fossil has been recognized as being related to a species of carnivorous dinosaur Eubrontes in the Cretaceous.

Professor Xing informed that a replica of these footprints has been sent to the Tokyo National Museum and Fujiko Pro Co, the production company of the Doraemon series.

The replica will be made public on November 30.

For the unversed, Doraemon was first written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio in 1969. The story revolved around a blue robotic cat who travels from the 22nd century to the present-day world to help out a clumsy elementary schoolboy Nobita.