"Dooly is one of the very famous, iconic dinosaur characters in Korea. Every generation in Korea knows this character," said Jongyun Jung, a visiting postdoctoral researcher at UT's Jackson School of Geosciences who led the research. "And our specimen is also a juvenile or 'baby,' so it's perfect for our dinosaur species name to honor Dooly."

The baby dinosaur is the first new dinosaur species discovered in Korea in 15 years and the first Korean dinosaur fossil found with portions of its skull. The skull bones were revealed when the fossil underwent a scientific micro-CT scan at the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (UTCT) facility.

"When we first found the specimen, we saw some leg bones preserved and some vertebrae," Jung said. "We didn't expect skull parts and so many more bones. There was a fair amount of excitement when we saw what was hidden inside the block."

Research on the dinosaur, whose scientific name is Doolysaurus huhmini, was published in the journal Fossil Record on March 19. The name "huhmini" honors the Korean paleontologist Min Huh, who has contributed to the study of Korean dinosaurs over the past 30 years, founded the dinosaur center, and worked with UNESCO to preserve dinosaur fossil sites in Korea. The fossil was discovered in 2023 by co-author Hyemin Jo, a researcher at the dinosaur center.