27/06/2017
*BREAKING NEWS* Australia's most complete dinosaur ever discovered!
Great news! The Australian Age of Dinosaurs (AAOD) Museum would like to announce the discovery of significant dinosaur remains following recent excavations on a property north-east of Winton. The site, which was discovered in 2015 by local grazier Bob Elliott, has produced the fossilised remains of a sub-adult sauropod dinosaur that comprise the most complete fore-section of a sauropod dinosaur yet discovered in Australia. Once excavations are complete it is expected that the new dinosaur, nicknamed Judy, will become the country’s most complete sauropod dinosaur skeleton.
After three weeks of digging the AAOD Museum has recovered numerous bones from Judy including several teeth, possible skull fragments and at least ten cervical (neck) vertebrae interconnected in life position. At around four metres long, it was necessary for the articulated neck of the animal to be encased in a two-tonne steel-reinforced plaster jacket so that it could be removed in one piece by Museum staff and volunteers. A large adjoining three-metre-wide section containing rib bones, more vertebrae and limb bones needed to be separated from Judy’s neck in order to be jacketed for removal.
Dr Stephen Poropat, a research scientist with Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne and Research Associate of the AAOD Museum, said that the discovery is likely to become the most complete sauropod ever found in Australia. “The previous record holder, the Jurassic-aged Rhoetosaurus brownei from Roma, is represented by about 25% of a skeleton,” said Dr Poropat. “Even with the site only partially excavated, it is expected that Judy will exceed this!”
Dr Poropat said that, at approximately 12 metres long, Judy is one of the smaller sauropod specimens found in the Winton Formation to date. “This animal appears not to have been fully mature when it died, since neither of the shoulder girdles are fused as is common in older animals,” he said. He added that Judy is special for a number of reasons: “The neck of this sauropod is at least 65% complete and is in life position. Sauropod cervical vertebrae are relatively rare in Australia and the cervical ribs that attach to them are even rarer.”
The Museum will resume excavations in mid-August and preparation of the specimen will begin in 2018. We will keep you posted on any further developments!
