Remains of large dinosaur skeleton unearthed in Portugal

By: 2 years ago

A view during a phase of the excavation works of a partial skeleton of a sauropod dinosaur at the Monte Agudo fossil site, in Pombal, Portugal in this handout taken August 2022. Instituto Dom Luiz (Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon) /Handout via REUTERS

Paleontologists have been working away in a Portuguese backyard to unearth the remains of what could be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe, University of Lisbon researchers said.

Fossilized fragments from the dinosaur were first discovered in 2017 by a property owner in the city of Pombal in central Portugal while doing construction work.

A view during the extraction of a plaster jacket with some partial dorsal ribs of a sauropod dinosaur at the Monte Agudo fossil site, in Pombal, Portugal in this handout taken August 2022. Instituto Dom Luiz (Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon) /Handout via REUTERS

Earlier this month, Spanish and Portuguese paleontologists worked on the site to unearth what they reckon is a dinosaur that was about 25 meters (82 feet) long and lived around 145 million years ago, the university’s Faculty of Sciences department said.

The skeleton belonged to a sauropod – a group of plant-eating, four-legged species of dinosaur characterised by long necks and tails, the researchers said.