A man found a bone while walking his dog. What he discovered next was 'pre-historic'

A man walking his dog found a bone, which turned out to bea 70-million-year-old dinosaur bone from a near-complete dinosaur fossil.

Damien Boschetto, a 25-year-old man in France, came across a bone two years ago while walking his dog in a forest near Montouliers. He reported his discovery to local researchers at the Cultural, Archaeological and Paleontological Association (ACAP) in Cruzy. They found that the bone was part of a 30-foot-long-fossilised titanosaur. This dinosaur walked the land over 70 million years ago.

"It happened one morning like any other, during an ordinary walk," Boschetto told local news FranceBleu. "While walking the dog, a landslide on the edge of the cliff exposed the bones of various skeletons. They were fallen bones, therefore isolated. We realised after a few days of excavations that they were connected bones," he added.

The researchers discovered that the fossils were around 70 per cent complete. It belonged to the Titanosaur family of dinosaurs that roamed on Earth during the Cretaceous period.

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Titanosaurs included the brachiosaurus and diplodocus dinosaurs. They were massive creatures with a long neck and are believed to be the largest land animals to have ever existed.

Moreover, they were herbivores who could reach up to 100 feet or above with their elongated necks and tails. "They probably all died at the same time, in a flash flood," Boschetto said. "We see traces of crocodile or carnivore bites."

These dinosaurs had a sturdy vertebrae. It allowed them to reach towering heights while grazing on vegetation.

Palaeontologists kept this discovery a secret for two years. They were worried that people would come to the site and damage the bones. Volunteers at the ACAP slowly extracted the titanosaur fossil, which has been taken to the museum in Cruzy recently.

"In France, in the Upper Cretaceous, it is very rare, to find this, he [Boschetto] had to have the 'eye.' Some have passed for 30 years, they have not seen this site," the museum's founder, Francis Fage, said.

"It is a flagship piece for the general public, to be able to admire a dinosaur in automatic connection like that," he said.

Ever since the discovery, Boschetto has quit his job in the energy sector and intends to pursue a master's degree in palaeontology.

(With inputs from agencies)