The remains of an enormous duck-billed dinosaur have been found in China among what is believed to be the largest group of fossilised dinosaur bones ever discovered.

Palaeontologists have dug up more than 7,000 bones in 15 separate areas in Zhucheng City, known locally as Dinosaur City, in China’s eastern Shandong province.

"This group of fossilised dinosaurs is currently the largest ever discovered in the world... in terms of area," said Zhao Xijin, a palaeontologist from the China Academy of Sciences, according to the Beijing News.

One area in the region, which measures 985ft long by 33ft wide and 17ft deep, was found to contain more than 3,000 fossilised bones, according to the scientists who have been digging there since March.

Among the discoveries were that of the largest-known duck-billed dinosaur, which measures 29ft high.

Scientists have also identified the remains of ankylosaurus, tyrannosaurus and coelurus, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

Mr Zhao said the discovery of so many dinosaurs in such a dense area could provide clues about how the animals became extinct towards the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago.

Xinhua said palaeontologists are expecting to find many more remains in the area, which lies in a region that has produced more than 50 tonnes of dinosaur fossils since the 1960s.

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