Paleontologists in Portugal have discovered the fossilized skeleton of what could be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe.
The remains are believed to be those of a sauropod, a herbivorous dinosaur 12 meters (39 feet) tall and 25 meters long that roamed the Earth about 150 million years ago.
“It is one of the largest specimens discovered in Europe, maybe in the world,” paleontologist Elisabete Malafaia, from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, told AFP on Monday.
The bones were discovered by Portuguese and Spanish scientists in the garden of a house near Pombal in central Portugal in early August.
Among the collected bones, they found the remains of a rib about three meters long, Malafaia said.
The 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’s skeleton earlier this month and have been examining it ever since.
Sauropods have a characteristic long neck and tail and are among the largest animals to have ever lived.
The fossils discovered at the Monte Agudo site in Pombal are believed to be those of a brachiosaurid that lived during the Upper Jurassic period.
The fact that the vertebrae and ribs are in the same place and position they would have been in the dinosaur’s anatomy is “relatively rare,” Malafaia said.
The team may carry out further excavations in the coming months in and around the site.
© Agence FrancePresse