Fossil Found In Museum Drawer Of Dinosaur Which Was Size Of Double-Decker Bus
One of our dinosaurs is missing… in a drawer.
A newly discovered dinosaur has been identified from a fossil that was thrown away in a drawer in a museum.
The abelisaur was a meat-eater the size of a double-decker bus that roamed the Earth 95 million years ago.
It was discovered from a fossilised thigh bone which was found in a drawer.
Alessandro Chiarenza, a PhD student from Imperial College London, found the femur during a visit to the Museum of Geology and Palaeontology in Palermo, Italy last year.
The abelisaur lived during the Cretaceous era and roamed North Africa.
Using the femur, researchers estimate the dinosaur could have been 30ft (9m) long, 20ft tall and weighed between one and two tonnes.
The dinosaur had very small forelimbs, a short deep face, small razor sharp teeth and muscular hind limbs. It is also thought it was covered in fluffy feathers.
The abelisaur ruled the southern hemisphere while the larger tyrannosaurs reigned in the north.
Mr Chiarenza, of the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, said: “Smaller abelisaur fossils have been previously found by palaeontologists but this find shows how truly huge these flesh eating predators had become.
“Their appearance may have looked a bit odd as they were probably covered in feathers with tiny, useless forelimbs, but make no mistake they were fearsome killers in their time.”
(Picture: SWNS)
