University of Lisbon researchers have discovered what they believe to be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe in an undeveloped Portuguese backyard thanks to the efforts of paleontologists. In a report by Reuters, an owner of a property in Pombal in central Portugal reported in 2017 that fossilized fragments from a dinosaur had been discovered by him during construction in the city.
Spanish and Portuguese paleontologists worked on the site earlier this month in order to unearth a dinosaur that they believe to be around 25 metres long. This is a dinosaur that lived around 145 million years ago, according to the university’s Faculty of Sciences department. The researchers concluded that the skeleton belonged to a sauropod – a group of plant-eating, four-legged dinosaurs characterized by long necks and tails, usually associated with plant-eating dinosaurs.