DINOSAUR hunters have uncovered a 6.5-foot thigh bone probably belonging to a giant sauropod in France.
Dinosaur researchers have found a two-metre thigh bone which is believed to come from a giant sauropod in southwestern France. French paleontologists found the bone at an excavation site in Charente where remains of some of the largest animals in the world have been dug up since 2010. Jean-François Tournepiche, Angouleme Museum curator, speaking to The Local, said: “This femur is huge!
“And in an exceptional state of conservation.
“It’s very moving.”
Paleontologist at the National History Museum of Paris, Ronan Allain, said: “This is a major discovery.
“I was especially amazed by the state of preservation of that femur. These are animals that probably weighed 40 to 50 tonnes.”
Mr Allain said scientists have found more than 7,500 fossils of more than 40 different species since 2010, which has made it one of the largest finds in Europe.
The scientists believe that the bones are from a sauropod, which are the largest herbivorous dinosaurs and first appeared in the late Triassic Period.
These reptiles were the largest of all dinosaurs and the largest land animals that have ever lived, they had a small head on a long neck and a very long tail.
Scientists believe they would spend their time wallowing in shallow water that would help support their bodies.
The dinosaur bone was found covered in clay by volunteers from the National Museum of Natural History.
Earlier this week a college student at the University of California uncovered the 65-million-year-ol skull of a Triceratop in North Dakota.
North Dakota is part of the Hell Creek Formation and is an area which an abundance of fossils.
This particular fossil was found upside down with the base of its left horn partially exposed and surrounded by plant fossils fro the Cretaceous era.
Once the fossil was unearthed, it was put in a box and wrapped in a foam mattress before it was taken to a lab for research.
