The skeleton of a giant 82-foot-long (25-meter) late Jurassic dinosaur has been found in central Portugal, accidentally unearthed in a man’s backyard in the city of Pombal in 2017. Paleontologists working at the site believe it did. is the largest dinosaur fossil ever found in Europe, at a whopping 39 feet (12 meters) tall.
The largest ever dinosaur fossil in Europe has been described as a “beautifully preserved specimen” after a series of excavations over the past five years. There are plans to return early next year, with other parts of the skeleton likely to still exist in the mine, judging by the preservation characteristics of dinosaur bones that have been discovered for 150 million years before.
Largest-ever dinosaur fossil in Europe: A giant vegetarian
Last week, Spanish and Portuguese archaeologists announced that the skeleton was a sauropod in a press release from the University of Lisbon. Sauropods were herbivorous four-legged dinosaurs, with long, long necks and tails and legs as thick as tree trunks. Sauropods are a large and diverse group considered to be among the largest creatures to have ever inhabited the earth.
The largest-ever dinosaur fossil in Europe, dating from the late Jurassic period, is attracting a lot of attention. This giant beast looks like sauropods. ( allvision / Adobe Stock)
“Research at the paleontological locality of Monte Agudo confirms that the Pombal region has an important fossil record of late Jurassic vertebrates, which over the past decades has provided for the discovery of The rich material is significant for knowledge of the continental fauna that inhabited the Iberians.” This peninsula was about 145 million years ago,” said Dr. Malafaia, a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon (Ciencias ULisboa), Portugal.
Portugal has proven to be a particularly rich region for dinosaur fossils. In 1947, brachiosaurad remains were found in Atalaia, leading to the creation of the subgenus Brachiosaurus atalaiensis in 1957.
Vertebrae and ribs found from a backyard axial skeleton in Portugal suggest it was a brachiosaurid. The ribs were a whopping 3 meters (10 feet) long, the largest sauropod ribs found to date in Europe.
“It is not common to find all the ribs of an animal like this, let alone in this position, maintaining their original anatomical position. This method of preservation is relatively rare in the fossil record of dinosaurs, especially sauropods, from Upper Portugal. Jurassic period,” Dr. Malaifa added.
Just a month ago, two 100-million-year-old sauropod footprints were discovered outside a restaurant in China, CNN reports. This restaurant is located in Leshan in Sichuan province and the footprints showed that the creature was 26 feet (8 meters) long. They roamed during the early Cretaceous period, after the Jurassic period, and were capable of shaking the earth as they passed by.
The excavation team in a now-renovated backyard in Portugal, pose next to the ribs of the largest dinosaur fossil ever found in Europe. (Photo courtesy of Instituto Dom Luiz / Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon)
Sauropods and Brachiosaurs and Their Jurassic Extinction
Brachiosaurs are a genus of sauropod dinosaurs that lived on Earth from the late Jurassic until the early Cretaceous period, from 160 million to 66 million years ago, The Insider reported. The Pombal region has proven to be a very productive fossil site in the Iberian Peninsula, helping to shed light on the many animals that inhabited the peninsula during the late Jurassic period (163 Ma – 145 Ma).
Compared to other sauropods, brachiosaurs had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, which made their trunks larger and their backs shorter in overall proportions.
Brachiosaurs often have a common characteristic of clearly developed forelimbs, and are the most typical dinosaurs of the sauropod group. These include Brachiosaurus altithorax and Giraffatitan brancai, as well as the late Jurassic Portuguese species, Lusotitan atalaiensis, found in the western region of Portugal.
Two major extinction events ended life on earth for large dinosaurs. The first occurred 201 million years ago (the Triassic-Jurassic extinction), leading to the extinction of 80% of species on earth. The second extinction event occurred 66 million years ago (the Cretaceous-Paleozoic extinction), which wiped out 75% of species on earth.
The later Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event is loosely called “the day the dinosaurs died,” when a giant asteroid crashed into the Yucatan Peninsula in present-day Mexico creating a peninsula 180 km wide ( 112 miles) and 19 km (11.8-) long. mile) deep hole. This event ended the 180 million-year reign of the dinosaurs, Live Science reports.
