A fossil left in a drawer for decades belonged to an extremely rare dinosaur
A fossil from an extremely rare dinosaur has resurfaced after spending years hidden away in an unusual place.
According to the Associated Press , geologist Mike Thomson was on an expedition to James Ross Island in 1985 for the British Antarctic Survey and collected fossils from the area. Thomson collected a fossil from the area, initially believing it came from a large reptile.
After it was collected, it somehow ended up in a drawer in the Survey's collection and went untouched for years. Decades later, paleontologist Mark Evans discovered the fossil while reviewing the Survey's collection.
Believing it could have belonged to a dinosaur, Evans and other researchers began running tests on it and comparing it to previously discovered fossils.
On Monday, the team published a report in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica , a journal that publishes paleontology papers, announcing that the fossil was from a titanosaur, what the AP described as a long-necked herbivore.
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The dinosaur, estimated at 23 feet based on the fossil., was reportedly smaller than others of its kind, meaning it could have been young when it died.
Unfortunately, Thomson was unable to learn of the findings because he died in 2020.
"If he were still with us, he would be delighted to know what this was," Evans said in the study.
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