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Scientists Unearth Biggest Dinosaur to Be Found in UK

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 November 2004, 06:00 CST

BONES from the biggest dinosaur ever discovered in the UK have been excavated by fossil hunters on the Isle of Wight, according to scientists.

A single neck bone from the gigantic prehistoric creature measures three-quarters of a metre in length.

Experts believe it belonged to the sauropod family of dinosaurs - enormous herbivores resembling the more familiar diplodocus species that are thought to have moved together in herds.

Using comparisons with other fossils, the UK team of researchers has concluded that the huge reptile was in all likelihood more than 20 metres long and could have weighed in at between 40 and 50 tonnes.

Much larger and less numerous than their cousins the ornithopods, the sauropods grew to such enormous proportions because they did not chew their food into small pieces for digestion, which reduces the time necessary to extract nutrients. They needed huge bodies so their guts could break down massive quantities of foliage over several days.

So far, studies on the well-preserved fossil have led experts to establish similarities with two other known sauropods: brachiosaurus and sauroposeidon.

Although unearthed in 1992 along a stretch of beach between Clinton Chine and Sudmoor Point, the fossil was solidly encased in a hard rock strata called siderite and its importance was overlooked.

Steve Hutt, of the Dinosaur Isle Museum, where the fossil is on display, said: "Siderite is very tough. It's an iron-impregnated clay. After 125 million years or so, it sets like concrete. This enclosed and protected the very fragile bone."

Dr Darren Naish, the leader of the team from the University of Portsmouth that is studying the fossil, said: "It is impressively big. The bone contains a wealth of information that allows us to work out with confidence exactly what sauropod it belonged to. This, coupled with the giant size, was what attracted me to take a further look."

More recently, a second neck bone that probably comes from the same animal has also been discovered, although it is less well preserved because it had been exposed to the elements on the beach for some time, according to the scientists.

There may be more remains yet to be discovered, as the sauropod fossils have been emerging from a nearby eroding cliff.

The Isle of Wight is acknowledged to be one of the best places to hunt for fossils in the UK.

This is because it has an almost complete succession of exposed rocks from the early Cretaceous to the upper Palaeogene, a time span of almost 100 million years starting about 125 million years ago.

Source: Scotsman, The

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