MUSEO PALEONTOLOGICO EGIDIO FERUGLIO

A happy, instructive and magical journey through time that will take you back to the quaternary era (300 million years ago). This museum proposes to make accessible all the mysteries of the birth of animal and plant life, and of the still too little known world of the dinosaurs. Patagonia is indeed a region extremely rich in prehistoric fossils, and new paleontological discoveries are still being made every year. Everything is very well explained and everything smells of passion since it is in this region and by the museum's teams that the last great discovery was recently made: a new species of dinosaur. And a giant one at that! On 17 May 2014, a team of Argentine paleontological researchers led by José Luis Carballido and Diego Pola discovered seven specimens of a new species of dinosaur, the largest skeletons discovered to date of the largest land animals that have ever existed. In fact, they are almost 20 metres high and 35 metres long (from head to tail) and weigh 62 tonnes. This would be the height of a building nearly seven storeys high and the length of three heavy-duty truck trailers parked one behind the other. Belonging to the family of titanosaurs of the Upper Cretaceous period, itself from the family of sauropods to which the famous brontosaurs and diplodocus belong, the species was officially named on August 9, 2017 in New York: Patagotitan mayorum. Its name pays homage to the region it comes from and to the Mayo farmer, who discovered the first bones on his farm in 2013. The specimens are not visible today, unfortunately, but who knows, in a few years... Fans will have to go to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where a skeleton has been made out of fiberglass. Namely that this discovery stole the show from the titanosaur Dreadnoughtus schrani, another giant discovered shortly before, but overwhelmed by the proportions of the Patagotitan. The visit of the museum is exciting, and the pedagogical approach will appeal to children, but also to older children. The museum also manages the Bryn Gwyn Geopark, a nature reserve with partially exposed fossils. Count between 1 hour and a half and 2 hours of easy walking. Note that we can also organize longer expeditions during the day... or even at night.