A homeowner really only wanted to excavate his yard to make way for an extension – but in the process he discovered what may be the largest dinosaur skeleton ever unearthed on European soil. It should be a sauropod. The petrified herbivore is said to be twelve meters high and an impressive 25 meters long.
Portuguese and Spanish researchers have now uncovered the fossilized skeleton. The find in Pombal, Portugal, is considered a sauropod and “one of the largest specimens discovered in Europe, perhaps even the world,” paleontologist Elisabete Malafaia of the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Science said Monday.
Lived on Earth about 150 million years ago
Characteristically long necks and tails, sauropods are among the largest animals that ever lived. The skeleton probably comes from a brachiosaurid that lived in the Upper Jurassic period. The herbivorous dinosaur species was 12 meters high and 25 meters long and lived on Earth about 150 million years ago.
Longest rib three meters long
Among the bones, they also found the remains of a rib about ten feet long, Malafaia said. The fact that the vertebrae and ribs were found in the same place and position as in the dinosaur anatomy is “relatively rare,” Malafaia said.
The fossil fragments were first discovered in 2017 when the homeowner in Pombal dug up his yard to make way for an extension. He then contacted paleontologists, who excavated part of the dinosaur’s skeleton in early August and have been studying it ever since. The research team indicated that they want to do more excavations at the site and in the surrounding area in the coming months.
Source: Krone
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