French customs have discovered dinosaur teeth dating back 70 million years being transported in a lorry from Spain on its way to Italy.
The incident took place near Menton on the Cote d’Azur and the lorry was travelling on the A8 motorway towards Italy.
Nine teeth were discovered in total, believed to date back to the Cretaceous period which lasted from about 150 to 66 million years ago.
Experts from the from the Prehistoric Museum of Menton who examined the teeth confirmed they are about 70 million years old.
The French customs said in a statement: “On 27th January, during a check on the A8, Menton customs officers discovered nine dinosaur teeth in packages being transported by a Spanish lorry.
“This discovery of dinosaur fossils from the Upper Cretaceous (72 to 66 million years ago) is quite exceptional.
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The driver was questioned and said that he was driving from Spain to Italy, with the packages destined for Italian individuals near Genoa and Milan, the customs said.
The statement continued: “An assessment carried out by a heritage conservation specialist at the Regional Prehistory Museum of Menton reveals that these are teeth belonging to fossilised dinosaurs from the Tertiary era present in the geological basin of Morocco.”
They said that they included a tooth from a marine reptile called Plesiosaur Zarafasaura oceanis, three teeth from a Mosasaur. As well as five fossilised teeth probably belonging to a Dyrosaurus phosphaticus, which is an ancestor of today’s crocodiles.
The customs officers said that the driver was unable to produce the proper paperwork for the fossils and that further investigations are underway.
Small fossilised dinosaur teeth can be legally purchased online for as little as EUR 20 but collectors pay several thousand euros for well-preserved teeth of rare dinosaur species, depending on their size.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
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