Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Europe's biggest Dino discovered 220 km away from Expo Zaragoza 2008 venue

This 48 tons vegetarian “pet” whose 3.5-meter-long left forelimb is seen inset in the photo has been found south of Zaragoza, in Teruel.
The remains of the Turiasaurio (ie. dino from Teruel) were found by a team led by Rafael Royo-Torres of the Joint Paleontology Foundation Teruel-Dinopolis.
They also have a thematic park where you can see this and other dinos…it is called “Dinopolis” and you can reach it at discount price using the train. More info (and a funny animation) at http://www.renfe.net/dinopolis/index.html

Coming back to the creature: similar sauropods have been found in France, Portugal, and England, suggesting Turiasaurus or closely related species of giant sauropods roamed other parts of Europe during the Jurassic period.
"I don't think there was any problem getting from Spain to England in those days," said a specialist from the University of Portsmouth.
Isnt it great, either you get a (35 metres long & 18 meters height) sub-aquatic dino or England and Spain were together in the Jurassic period. Btw, at that time the area where this dino was found was the meander of a big river near the sea…however now the area is quite far from the sea plus doesnt have any big river around…neither similar pets ;)
The above shows that water (and in particular inland water) forms the basis of ecosystems and natural habitats. At the Expo Zaragoza 2008 some of the world's great rivers - the Nile, the Amazon, the Yangtze, the Ebro, etc and their ecosystems will be explained in detail. You can find more info on the river aquarium pavilion at http://www.expozaragoza2008.es/index.jsp?seccion=114&seccionRaiz=178&seccionDesplegar=110&idioma=en_GB

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