Aussie museum displays huge dinosaur bones

Paleontologists in Brisbane, Australia, were proudly exhibiting Wednesday what they say is the largest group of dinosaur bones ever found in Australia.

The news media event marked the first time the bones have been displayed since being found on a grazing property near Winton in western Queensland last year, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The 80 bones are from the cretaceous sauropod, including feet-long ribs, toes and shoulder and hip bones, scientists said.

The sauropods were four-legged, plant-eating dinosaurs more than 100-feet (30 meters) tall and up to 100-feet long. They had extremely long necks and tails and disproportionately small heads, Queensland Museum officials said.

"These are beautifully preserved bones, these are sauropod dinosaur bones, they are the best preserved of their kind in Australia," museum paleontologist Scott Hocknull said. "We're talking about the largest of the large, the biggest dinosaurs that roamed this continent."

The bones are estimated to be at least 95 million years old.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International