Scientists in the U.K. have made a thrilling conclusion about a fossil found near Yorkshire in Northern England. The bone they have found belonged to a Sauropod that lived about 176-million-years ago. That makes this the oldest Sauropod ever found in that part of the world, and means he belonged to the exceptionally rare category of dinosaurs found in the world existing during the Middle Jurassic Period.
Sauropods are characteristically giant creatures by nature, some reaching as much 90 feet in length, and all are thought to be herbivores. while all that they have discovered so far of the dinosaur is a single vertebrae, they may find enough later on to put together a partial skeleton of the creature.
“Alan” the Sauropod Arrives in the U.K.
A high concentration of fossils have been found in an area of England referred to as Yorkshire’s Jurassic Park, and the discovery of this fossil proves to be indicative of the timeline in which there was a high concentration of dinosaurs in that part of England. However many dinosaur bones exist in the area, the discovery of this one is possibly one of the rarest made.
The paper published on the discovery states how rare it is to find a Middle Jurassic fossil in this part of the world, “The fossil remains of Middle Jurassic sauropods are extremely rare. The major finds of Middle Jurassic Sauropods are in China (Shunosaurus, Omeisaurus, and Mamenchisaurus), Argentina (Patagosaurus ), North Africa (Spinophorosaurus and Jobaria)and Britain (Cetiosaurus).” This creates a lot of interest in “Alan the Sauropod”, and leaves researchers questioning if there may be more like him in the area.
Is there more of “Alan” that hasn’t been found yet?
Chances are that in the rock formations where the Sauropod was discovered, there may be more pieces of the skeleton lying in wait to be discovered. This is of course because a Sauropod is no small creature. According to the research done so far It is still unknown what subgroup the Sauropod belongs to, “The vertebra cannot be further distinguished from those of a wide range of basal sauropods, cetiosaurids and basal macronarians. However, this plesiomorphic vertebra still signifies the earliest stratigraphic occurrence for a British sauropod dinosaur. ” Of course it would be years before any sort of skeleton could be assembled, but finding the oldest Sauropod in England is enough to keep experts hungry for more.
