A new scientific discovery in China has left everyone stunned.

Scientists have uncovered a well-preserved 125-million-year-old dinosaur fossil in China in latest discovery with unusual features.

Nicknamed the “spiny dragon”, the newly-discovered dinosaur had both longer and shorter spikes across its body-a bit like a porcupine.

Scientists in China have uncovered an exceptionally preserved juvenile iguanodontian with fossilized skin so detailed that individual cells are still visible.

Experts say it’s in such good condition, that it has allowed them to see what the dinosaurs’ skin really looked like.

The newly identified species has been named Haolong dongi, and belongs to the iguanodontian family.

The most astonishing fact is that the plant-eating dinosaur was covered in hollow, porcupine-like spikes, a feature or structures never before seen in any dinosaur.

According to scientists these dinosaurs were first identified in the early 1800s and are famous for their beaked mouths and strong hind legs.

What makes this specimen extraordinary is not just its skeleton, but its preserved skin.

They found that individual skin cells had been preserved for approximately 125 million years.

Soft tissues rarely survive for millions of years, yet in this case, even microscopic details endured.

This level of detail allowed scientists to reconstruct the structure of unusual hollow spikes embedded in the skin.

These spikes, described as cutaneous because they originate in the skin, covered much of the dinosaur’s body.

Unlike horns or bony plates, they were not solid extensions of bone. Instead, they were hollow structures, a feature that has never previously been observed in dinosaurs.

The newly identified species has been named Haolong dongi, honoring Dong Zhiming, a pioneering Chinese paleontologist who made major contributions to dinosaur research in China.

Haolong dongi was a herbivore, meaning it fed on plants rather than other animals.

During the Early Cretaceous period, when it lived, small carnivorous dinosaurs hunted in the same ecosystems. The hollow spikes may have served as a defensive adaptation, functioning in a way similar to the quills of a porcupine by discouraging predators from attacking.

However, defense may not have been their only purpose. Researchers suggest the spikes could also have helped regulate body temperature, a process known as thermoregulation. Structures that increase surface area can assist with releasing or conserving heat. Another possibility is that the spikes had a sensory role, helping the dinosaur detect movement or environmental changes around it.

A First of Its Kind Discovery

Until this fossil came to light, there was no evidence that dinosaurs possessed hollow skin based spines of this kind.

Because the specimen is a juvenile, scientists cannot yet confirm whether adult individuals of the species retained the same structures as they matured.

The latest findings published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on February 6, 2026, introduce an entirely new feature to the known diversity of dinosaur anatomy.

This discovery not only adds a new species to the Iguanodontia group, but also reveals that dinosaur skin and body coverings were more varied and innovative than previously understood.