25-metre dinosaur unearthed in Portuguese back garden

A team of experts from Portugal and Spain were working to gently unearth the remains of what could be the largest dinosaur skeleton ever found in Europe.

Photographs released by the science faculty of the University of Lisbon show excavation works in early August (August 1-10) at the site in Pombal, central Portugal.

Palaeontologists say the dinosaur appears to be around 25 metres (82 feet) long and could be among the largest dinosaur skeletons ever uncovered in Europe.

According to the university, the skeleton belonged to a sauropod – a group of plant-eating, four-legged species of dinosaur characterised by long necks and tails. The scientists suspect the dinosaur was of the brachiosaurus genus, which lived around 145 million years ago in the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous periods. The name brachiosaurus means “arm lizard” in Greek.

The team has been working on the site since 2017, though dinosaur remains on the site were first known about in 2012.

(Reuters)