Newly Found Portugese Dinosaur May Be Largest Ever Found in Europe

Paleontologists in Portugal have unearthed the fossilized skeleton of what could be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe.

The remains are thought to be those of a sauropod, a herbivorous dinosaur 12 meters (39 feet) tall and 25 meters long that roamed the Earth around 150 million years ago.

“It’s one of the biggest specimens discovered in Europe, perhaps in the world,” paleontologist Elisabete Malafaia, from the Faculty of Sciences at Lisbon University, told AFP on Monday.

The bones were uncovered by Portuguese and Spanish scientists in the garden of a house near Pombal in central Portugal at the beginning of August.

Image: Instituto Dom Luiz, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa/AFP

Among the bones collected, they found the remains of a rib about three meters long, Malafaia said.

Fossil fragments were first noticed at the site in 2017, when the owner was digging up his garden to make way for an extension.

He contacted paleontologists, who unearthed part of the dinosaur skeleton earlier this month and have been examining it ever since.

Sauropods have characteristically long necks and tails and are among the largest animals to have ever lived.

Image: Instituto Dom Luiz/Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon

The fossils discovered at the Monte Agudo site in Pombal are thought to be those of a brachiosaurid who lived during the Upper Jurassic period.

The fact that the vertebrae and ribs were found at the same location and in the position they would have been in the dinosaur’s anatomy is “relatively rare”, Malafaia said.

The team may conduct more digs in the coming months at the site and in the surrounding area.

See more here sciencealert

Header image: Differencebetween.com

Thanks to Nancy Ryan

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Comments (5)

  • Avatar

    Saighdear

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    Oh yes, this one, what makes an animal to be the largest ….. ? I think of my crop spraying machine with a 40ft and later 24metre boom and consider the strength and weight of it swinging about as the machine traverses smooth ground ( or not sometimes in the fields) So this Monster, is so big, but not really, just has a long neck which can only be elevated, but not extended for fear of tearing muscle tissue. The body , meantime is not really so big after all. and as for the tail ? … I’m no longer taken in by these tales of the unexpected. Just interested to find another big fossilised animal.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Mr. Crabs

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    Dinosaurs are a hoax. Never existed. All the skeletons in Museums are plaster or plastic. It’s all part of the narrative to promote evolution. Look into it.
    Most of what you think you know is just another lie.

    Reply

    • Avatar

      Andy Rowlands

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      You are quite right about museum skeletons. They are usually plaster casts taken from the bones, as the bones themselves are far too heavy to be erected in a museum without a huge metal framework, which would be an unsightly mess. As for evolution, I see nothing that would make me doubt it.

      Reply

      • Avatar

        Mr. Crabs

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        Maybe you have your eyes closed there Andy. Perhaps you need to research beyond the lies that have made it impossible for you to think freely and for yourself.
        The bones themselves do not exist at all. Carbon dating is a scam too. Wake up.

        Reply

      • Avatar

        Jerry Krause

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        Hi Andy,

        You wrote: “As for evolution, I see nothing that would make me doubt it.”

        If by evolution you are referring to Darwin’s idea of very, very small changes of life over billions of years for the evolution of life, PSI has published the observation that the first male-female pair of birds, had to inculcate the egg or eggs, that the female had laid after the pair having had sex, for a little bird to hatch. Don’t you read PSI articles?

        Have a good day, Jerry

        Reply

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