According to a paper published in the latest issue of PeerJ Life and Environment magazine, a huge crocodile-faced dinosaur fossil was unearthed in the British islet of Wight, a dinosaur belonging to Spinosaurus that lived 125 million years ago, was 10 meters long and weighed several tons, and may be the largest land carnivore found in Europe.
The site of the dinosaur fossil.
The fossils, which were reportedly discovered by dinosaur hunter Nick Chase in the vegetific formation of the Vetis Formation off the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight, have died and are currently on display at the Dinosaur Island Museum in Thornton.
Author Dr Neil Gostling said the discovery was unusual because dinosaur fossils in the Vectors formation were notoriously few.
Dinosaurs compared to British school bus sizes.
Chris Barker, a phD student in paleontology at the University of Southampton, said it was a giant animal, more than 10 meters (32.8 feet) long and possibly weighing several tons, and appeared to represent one of the largest predatory dinosaurs found in Europe, and perhaps even the largest known.
Darren Naish, co-author of the paper, said that the wreckage found so far is mainly a huge pelvis and tail vertebrae, and it is hoped that more remains will appear in time.
Paleontologists speculate on the size of dinosaurs based on fossilized remains.
Scientists believe that the marks on the bones, including small tunnels drilled into the pelvis, suggest that the carcass of the giant dinosaur was eaten by scavengers and decomposers after death.
The researchers hope to study the microscopic internal properties of these bones in the near future, which could provide information about things like how fast the dinosaurs grew and what age they might have been.
This giant spinosaurus was likely able to hunt underwater.
Paleontologists say the "giant killer," a member of the spinosaurus, was the first known dinosaur to swim, that it should have lived early in the rise in sea levels and should have sought food in lagoon waters and sand.
It is reported that in March this year, researchers at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, after studying the density of spinosaurus bones and comparing it with other animals such as penguins, hippos and crocodiles, speculated that spinosaurus could swim and was likely to be able to hunt underwater.
Text/Nandu reporter Chen Lin