Huge Dinosaur Skeleton found in Portugal: Paleontologists from Portugal and Spain have unearthed a huge dinosaur skeleton in Pombal, located in Central Portugal.
The discovery of the dinosaur skeleton is said to be the largest in Europe. The remains of the dinosaur that is unearthed belong to the Sauropod, which was a herbivorous dinosaur that was around 12 meters tall and 25 meters long. They roamed the earth around 145 million years ago.
According to the paleontologist Elisabete Malafaia, from the Faculty of Sciences at Lisbon University this is the largest possible dinosaur skeleton unearthed from Europe and possibly the world.
Uma equipa de paleontólogos portugueses e espanhóis conduziu, entre 1 e 10 de agosto de 2022.https://t.co/3GLTzoQxE2
— IDL - Instituto Dom Luiz (@IdlLuiz) August 22, 2022
The discovery was made for the first time in 2017 by a property owner in Pombal, Central Portugal when he was digging up the backyard for gardening purposes. Upon digging it revealed fossilised fragments of the dinosaur.
The owner then contacted the paleontologists at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon about the discovery. Accordingly, the paleontologists performed digging at the site which is now known as the Monte Agudo paleontological site.
The paleontologists have successfully unearthed a set of vertebrae and ribs of the dinosaur which is about three meters in length. By the structure of the ribs and vertebrae, the dinosaur was identified as a Brachiosaurus belonging to the Sauropod group.
These species have characteristic features of long necks and tails, which helped them in reaching out for lush fresh foliage from the trees. These animals are believed to be the longest-surviving species of dinosaurs and lived in the Upper Jurassic period.
Elisabete Malafaia also stated that “It is rare to find the ribs of an animal in their perfect anatomical position”.
The research will continue in the coming years as the paleontologists are looking forward to extracting more fossils of the dinosaurs in the surrounding area.
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