A man found a 70 million-year-old dinosaur fossil, but kept it secret for two years

• A man in France found a huge dinosaur skeleton while walking his dog.

• The titanosaur skeleton is approximately 70% complete.

• This discovery was kept secret to preserve the site but it led to a career change for the man who discovered it.

A man found a 70 million-year-old fossil while walking his dog, but he and local archaeologists kept it a secret for two years over fears vandals would tamper with the find.

Damien Bocheteau, 25 years old, made this discovery in Montolier, near Hérault, France, about two years ago, according to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”. Newsweek.

Bochetto reported the find to the Cultural, Archaeological and Paleontological Society in the nearby city of Croze, according to the outlet.

The group determined the fossil to be a nearly complete fossilized titanosaur measuring 30 feet long.

While paleontologists routinely excavate bones of animals that existed millions of years ago, this is just how it is It is very rare to find a completely intact fossilized dinosaur skeleton. For example, One study Estimates 1.7 billion Tyrannosaurus rex He lived between 66 million and 68 million years agoBut scientists only found fossilized remains Less than 100 of them.

Titanosaurs were a subgroup of sauropods, plant-eaters with very long necks, biologists say. Encyclopedia Britannica. The massive herbivores are some of the largest known dinosaurs and lived between 66 million and 150 million years ago on every continent.

Researchers have discovered that the titanosaur fossil discovered by Bochetto is approximately 70% complete, according to Newsweek.

s. “While walking the dog, a landslide on the edge of the cliff exposed various skeletal bones,” Bochetto said, according to the outlet. “They were fallen bones, and therefore isolated. We realized after a few days of excavation that they were connected bones.”

According to Newsweek, Bochetto and the researchers kept the discovery secret for two years to protect the site from vandals.

When researchers finish studying the bones, the Bochetto titanosaur will soon be on display at the Croze Museum, which is also a museum. Home to another titanosaur femur that was discovered in 2012.

Bushito He told the Washington Post He is passionate about paleontology. Francis Vajes, director of the Croze Museum, told the newspaper that Bochetto's volunteering at the museum over the past two years has been valuable to the museum's paleontology department.

“These discoveries are interesting from a scientific point of view because they contribute to the understanding of species and ecosystems in the Late Cretaceous of France and Europe,” Fages told the outlet.

The newspaper reported that Bochetto resigned from his job in the energy sector last September to obtain a master's degree in paleontology.

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