In this video we explore the Dinosaur fossil locality at Tutuiri on the north coast of Chatham Island with geologist Hamish Campbell.
Rare dinosaur bones have been found here in rocks that are 63 million years old. That is younger than the mass extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago!
How can this be? Watch the video to find out!
Dinosaur bone discoveries in New Zealand are extremely rare. Individual dinosaur bones have been found at only 3 localities (the other two being a single bone from Port Waikato and handful from Mangahouanga Stream in Hawke's Bay). In total these finds could fit inside a shoe box, and to date there have been no articulated parts of skeletons (multiple bones attached together) or any dinosaur skulls found. However these few specimens show that there was a diverse range of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaur species, as well as the flying pterosaurs.
Note that marine reptile finds from the same age as the dinosaurs such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs are more abundant and include much more complete specimens.
This video was generously funded by the Chatham Islands Museum https://chathamislandsmuseum.nz/
