A huge dinosaur skeleton has been discovered in a man’s backyard in Pombal, Portugal, and it could be the largest ever found in Europe, according to A press release has been published Wednesday.
The press release said the property owner noticed fossilized bone fragments in his yard when construction work was being carried out in 2017, and contacted a research team that launched an initial excavation that same year.
Earlier this month, paleontologists from Spain and Portugal worked at the site for more than a week and believe they have discovered the remains of the largest sauropod dinosaur ever found on the continent, according to the statement. Sauropods are four-legged plant-eating dinosaurs with long necks and tails. This dinosaur was 39 feet long and 82 feet long.
Image provided by Instituto Dom Luiz (University of Lisbon Faculty of Sciences) (Portugal).
“It is not unusual to find all the ribs of an animal like this, let alone in this position, while maintaining their original anatomical location. This mode of preservation is relatively uncommon in the fossil record of dinosaurs, particularly sauropods, from the Portuguese upper part,” said Elizabeth Malavia, a researcher Postdoctoral at the University of Lisbon, in a statement that “Jurassic.”
The press release said the most important skeletal elements were collected from the site, which include vertebrae and ribs that could have been a sauropod Brachiosaurus, or Brachiosaurus. Dinosaur species roamed the Earth from 160 to 100 million years ago.
Due to the dinosaur’s preservation characteristics, researchers believe that other parts of its skeleton will also be found.
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