An artist's impression of the Eotyrannus. Picture courtesy of Patrick Eden Photography.
VIDEO
A MODEL of a dinosaur, related to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, discovered on the Isle of Wight has gone on display at Dinosaur Isle.
Eotyrannus was found by Isle of Wight based amateur collector Gavin Leng in 1997 in the south of the Island and now a one third scale model — about one metre high — has been created.
Isle of Wight-based dinosaur expert Steve Hutt researched the animal with support from Portsmouth University discovered it was a new species and related to Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Isle of Wight Council said in a statement today (Wednesday).
As well as commissioning the full colour model for the display, Dinosaur Isle in Sandown has also put on show sections of the fossil, including skull parts.
The model is featured in a display that shows the conditions in which it, and other Isle of Wight dinosaurs, would have lived.
A spokesman said: "In the scene, Eotyrannus has approached a watering hole and has surprised a group of young dinosaurs known as Hypsilophodon.
"Within the scene there are 13 different species of animals known from the Isle of Wight fossil record. There are also frogs, a salamander, lizards, spiders, dragon fly, beetles, ants and fish. Visitors are challenged to spot them all."
Visitors can also see four different types of dinosaur footprints, found at Compton Bay, including Eotyrannus and the fearsome Neovenator raptor, in the display.
Peter Pusey, Dinosaur Isle's general manager said: "The model has been made by Andrew Cox from Paleo Art and it really complements the magnificent fossils that we have on display.
"Dinosaur Isle is not just about displaying fossils, it is also about educating and showing what dinosaurs looked like hundreds of millions of years ago.
"Amateur collectors such as Gavin Leng, the finder of the original Eotyrannus fossil, are the life blood of the museum and this new fleshed out model brings those original bones to life."
The Isle of Wight Council has created a video about the discovery and the display, which can be seen below: