Paleontologists are unearthing the remains of what may be Europe’s largest dinosaur from the back garden of a house in Portugal.
The fossilized skeleton of a dinosaur known as a sauropod was discovered in the central city of Pombal in 2017, when a businessman began construction on his home.
Sauropods are the largest dinosaur species and the largest land animals that ever lived on Earth.
These dinosaurs were characterized by their long necks and tails, and they ate plants and walked on four legs.
Paleontologists from Portugal and Spain were able, earlier this month, to excavate parts of the spine and ribs of what may have been a Brachiosaurid sauropod, which indicates that the giant reptile was 12 meters high and 25 meters long.
The skeleton was found in sedimentary rocks from the High Jurassic period, which suggests that it is about 150 million years old.
The skeleton – which was found in the position in which the dinosaur may have died – is now being studied by an international team of researchers.
Because of the relatively proper positioning of the skeleton, paleontologists working at the excavation hope to find other parts of it that have not yet been excavated.
“It is unusual to find an animal’s ribs in this way, let alone in this position, maintaining their original anatomical position,” Elizabeth Malafaya, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Science, told Phys.org. .