They discovered bones from the largest dinosaurs that inhabited Neuquén

2023-04-14 17:41:47

Fabián Isaza, a neighbor of Añelo, found the fossil remains about three kilometers from the town of Vaca Muerta. After the complaint was made together with the owner of the land, a paleontological operation authorized by the Directorate of Heritage of the Province of Neuquén was deployed to find out what dinosaur it was.

In dialogue with PROFILE Juan Porfiri, Coordinator of the Museum of Natural Sciences at the National University of Comahue and Director of the Museum of the Patagonian Desert of Añelo, highlighted the discovery: “we received the report of the finding and when we arrived at the place we found an important piece”.

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According to the professor of the Faculty of Engineering for the degree in Geological Sciences of the same house of studies, he confirmed that in addition to the femur of the tianosaur family they are working because there are other pieces that could be part of the same animal. “The first piece that appears is a giant femur that exceeds two meters in length, but there are more pieces in the field”

“We are very happy as a work team because we are facing the possibility of having a discovery of a new and large animal. The job is very attractive,” said Porfiri.

According to the researchers of the team led by Porfiri, the dinosaur was herbivorous, could reach between twenty-five and thirty meters in length and belongs to the upper Cretaceous period. Their bones, which were next to a dry canyon, will allow further study of other titanosaurs found in the north of the province and south of Mendoza.

The paleontologist confirmed that the fossil remains come from a geological formation called “bajo de la carpa” and its age ranges from 83 and 85 million years.

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dinosaur land

The specialist and director of the Museum of the Patagonian Desert of Añelo explained that the region where they are located would be like “a paradise of dinosaurs because there is a lot of material both in the museum and in the university field of this town.”

Despite this, he highlighted the importance of this discovery: “In this particular case, the dimensions of the material surprise us and generate great expectations. I don’t want to get too far ahead because it’s all very preliminary, but in principle it would have similar dimensions. In appearance -and due to the dimensions of the femur- It would be in the top five of the largest dinosaurs that inhabited the planet.

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Steps to follow

“We are managing all the logistics that the ransom will demand from us,” Porfiri said. The specialist assured that when they arrived at the place they did not know what they were going to find and added: “the material is gigantic and if more materials appear we will need particular logistics to carry out the rescues.”

Doménica Do Santos, a paleontologist from the university, and Darío López, an advanced student of geology, participated in the rescue together with Porfiri.

Porfiri added that during the next few weeks they will have to return to the place of discovery to settle from the moment the excavation begins until the end. Then the pieces found are deposited in the museum where they have a preparation and assembly work to, just there, begin the investigation stage. The result of this work will indicate what type of titanosaur it belonged to.

NT/fl

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