Paleotrip 2009: treasures from the south of France

They are of all ages and come from all over Belgium, but they all share one common interest: a strong passion for dinos and fossils. Twelve amateur paleontologists left on the 3rd of august 2009 for a third edition of the Paleotrip or dino hunt! After two very successful expeditions to the far end of Russia (2005 and 2006), they traveled to a much closer yet very rich digging site situated in the south of France.

For two weeks, these eager adventurers went looking for leftovers of dinosaurs that became extinct 65 million years ago. Our scientists and staff members of the educational service provided them with professional help and guidance. On Tuesday, the 18th of August 2009, their journey of discovery came to an end and they returned to Belgium with their ‘treasure trunks’...

Fragment of a dinosaur egg

Crocodile tooth

Bone of an new species of sauropod

Rhabdodon bone

In a few weeks’ time our paleontologists dug up more than 250 remarkable pieces! All these elements were found at a depth of 80 cm and are about 75 million years old. Which pieces do the scientists presume to have found?

• The sacrum and other bones of a new species of sauropod (titanosaurid)
• Several bones of a rhabdodon (small iguanodon)
• The sacrum and hipbone of an ankylosaurus (strutiosaurid)
• Bones of very large pterosaur(s)
• Dinosaur eggs
• Many teeth of carnivorous dinosaurs (dromaeosaurs and ceratosaurs)
• Several land and freshwater turtles
• Three species of crocodile