Researcher on ‘most complete dinosaur’ unearthed in a century: Tech & Science Daily podcast

AN ARTIST’S IMPRESSION OF COMPTONATUS CHASEI – A NEW DINOSAUR SPECIES FROM THE ISLE OF WIGHT (JOHN SIBBICK/UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH)

RACHELLE ABBOTT|ROCHELLE TRAVERS

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The ‘most complete dinosaur’ in a century has been unearthed in the Isle of Wight and analysis has found it’s a new species that roamed the earth around 125 million years ago.

It’s been named ‘Comptonatus chasei’ in tribute to the late fossil hunter Nick Chase, who made the discovery back in 2013. Since then extensive work has gone into excavating, cleaning and analysing the 149 bones.

Comptonatus chasei belongs to a group of herbivorous dinosaurs known as iguanodontians, which are large, bulky creatures that are often described as the “cows of the Cretaceous period”, which was around 145-66 million years ago.

Tech & Science Daily speak to Dr Jeremy Lockwood, researcher with the University of Portsmouth, and the Natural History Museum in London, who worked on the study. He explains why this discovery could be incredibly significant for the scientific community.