Want a Dino?
Search Your Own Backyard!
When a man in Monte Agudo, Pombal in Portugal dug into his backyard garden in 2017, he found much more than a soup bone buried by the dog. He stumbled across giant ribs of what is believed to be a brachiosaurid. is long-necked family includes the biggest of dinosaurs, and some are describing the fortuitous nd as the largest dinosaur remains ever discovered in Europe, let alone Portugal.
Paleontologists from Portugal and Spain teamed up to complete the backyard excavation, and, aer ve years of digging, they released a press release describing the nd. Based on what they’ve unearthed, they estimate this critter may have stretched as long as 82 feet while standing 40 feet high. us far, they’ve uncovered an unusually intact rib cage and vertebrae and plan to continue excavations.
If initial analyses prove correct, this critter roamed Europe during the Upper Jurassic Period, some 161 to 145 million years ago. With its super-long neck and tall forelimbs, it would have grazed trees much like giraes in the African savannah.