Photos Sauropods Walked Here
Since Bornholm was a horst, or a raised fault block, it's likely that the dinos and other animals lived in a mini paradise at the time that would have been isolated from mainland Europe. The newly identified Danish island of dinosaurs is a rarity for Nordic countries. Such animal remains have not been found in Finland and Iceland, and for good reason. Iceland, Surlyk explained, "did not exist at the time, since the Atlantic Ocean was not yet formed." Mainland Norway only lays claim to a single, yet intriguing, miniscule piece of prosauropod bone. Prosauropods, like sauropods, were plant eaters, except they possessed a very large thumb claw for defense. They could grow to over 29 feet in length and weigh up to four tons. Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, on the other hand, has yielded a few dinosaur footprints as well as fossils for several Mesozoic marine reptiles. Niels Bonde from the Geological Institute at the University of Copenhagen did not work on the latest study, but he led the excavation that found one of the Bornholm dromaeosaur teeth. That was a government-sponsored project meant to assist unemployed individuals, and a group of these people discovered, and dug out, the big dino tooth. Bonde explained that the tooth must have belonged to a carnivorous dinosaur that lived around 130 million years ago and measured over 13 feet long. Given that the newly identified sauropod tracks appear to be crossed in places by footprints of such a carnivorous dinosaur, there is little doubt that, despite the lush setting, this part of prehistoric Denmark was a dinosaur-eat-dinosaur place millions of years ago. Related Links: Discovery News blog: Born Animal |
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