Hasta La Gadget!

Jul 23

Record dinosaur tail unearthed in Mexico

(Credit: INAH)

Buried for up to 72 million years, one of the world’s largest intact dinosaur tail fossils is now almost fully visible.

Paleontologists from Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) and National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have been brushing away sand and gravel for nearly 20 days, slowly revealing a record 50 connected vertebrae on the 16-foot tail.

The fossil is believed to belong to a hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, though the exact species is still being determined. The remains were reported to the INAH in June 2012, and excavation began earlier this month.

“For the biological study of dinosaurs this finding is important because we will have a sequence that will reveal the characteristics of the vertebrae. How they will be seen differentiating in size depending on their position in the spine,” paleontologist Angel Ramirez Velasco said in a press release.