Europe’s largest dinosaur may have been found in Britain
The bones of a dinosaur have been found on the Isle of Wight in Britain. Researchers believe they could belong to Europe’s largest dinosaur.
Bones from a dinosaur that is believed to be Europe's largest dinosaur have been discovered on the Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight is a British island situated in the English Channel. So what dinosaur have they uncovered?
Europe’s largest dinosaur
Palaeontologists at the University of Southampton have identified the bones as belonging to a creature that measured over 32 feet (10 metres) long and it lived 125 million years ago as reported by the BBC.
The remains belong to a two-legged, crocodile-faced, predatory spinosaurid dinosaur. Chris Baker, a PhD student who led the research said it was a ‘huge animal’.
He added:
Judging from some of the dimensions, it appears to represent one of the largest predatory dinosaurs ever found in Europe - maybe even the biggest yet known.
The remains
The remains that were discovered include vertebrae, parts of the pelvis and a limb bone according to The Guardian. This carnivore has been dubbed the ‘white rock spinosaurid’ due to the geological layer in which the bones were found.
Most dinosaurs are land-based, but spinosaurs spent a lot of their time near water and research suggests their diet was mainly fish-based, although researchers are unsure if the spinosaurs hunted fish or scavenged them after washing up on shore.
They also have not been able to give the creature a scientific name yet. Co-author of the research, Darren Naish, said:
Because it's only known from fragments at the moment, we haven't given it a formal scientific name. We hope that additional remains will turn up in time.
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