World News
A French man was on an everyday stroll with his dog Muffin when they stumbled upon a 70-million-year-old dinosaur fossil that took two years to dig up.
Damien Boschetto and Muffin were walking in the forests of Montouliers in the South of France near his home when the paleontology enthusiast discovered bones sticking out of the cliffside in 2022, according to CBS News.
The bones belonged to a nearly-complete skeleton of a long-necked titanosaur, he told ABC News.
“It happened one morning like any other, during an ordinary walk,” he told the outlet. “The territory around Cruzy is rich in fossils of dinosaurs and other species living at the same time.”
He said it was “rare” to discover skeletons in France and Europe and his discovery took two years to dig out.
The excavation found the skeleton to be around 70% complete and roughly 30 feet long, ABC News reported.
“They were fallen bones, therefore isolated. We realized after a few days of excavations that they were connected bones,” he said.
While the two-year project was taking place, Boschetto and members of the Archaeological and Paleontological Cultural Association kept their discovery a secret to protect the site from gawkers and those who wanted to pillage the site.
They extracted the bones throughout several 10-day periods, according to CBS News.
The skeleton will now be visible at the Cruzy Museum and Boschetto hopes the public comes to “admire a dinosaur.”
Francis Fage, founder of the Cruzy Museum, told a local outlet that Boschetto was lucky to have spotted the bones to begin with and that he had an “eye” for dinosaur research, according to ABC News.
“It is very rare to find this, he had to have the eye,” Fage said. “There are some who have passed for 30 years and they have not seen this site.”
Since the fateful discovery, Boschetto quit his job in the energy sector and now hopes to get a master’s degree in paleontology to continue his work at the museum, according to ABC News.
Titanosaurs roamed the Earth 145 million to 163 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. It is the largest terrestrial animal known and some grew as large as modern whales, according to Britannica.
Titanosaurs fossils have been found on all continents, except Antarctica.
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Dr. Sarah Adams is a scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to all. Her articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
