Bob Nicholls (c) National Museum of Wales
A new dinosaur cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex has been found in Wales, the first meat-eating dinosaur ever found in the country. The fossilised skeleton of a theropod dinosaur, including razor sharp teeth, and claws, was discovered on a beach near Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan. It was analysed by experts from The University of Manchester, University of Portsmouth and the National Museum Wales. This new dinosaur was a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex and lived at the very earliest part of the Jurassic Period, 201 million years ago, possibly making it the oldest Jurassic dinosaur in the world. The discovery was made by two brothers, Nick and Rob Hanigan while fossil hunting along the Lavernock beach in the Vale of Glamorgan after storms in spring 2014. After a cliff fall on the beach, they spotted several loose blocks containing part of the skeleton of a small dinosaur. The fossilised bones were found spread across five slabs of rock and although some were preserved together in the correct position, others were scattered and separated by the actions of scavenging fish and sea-urchins.
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