Life-size replica of Bristol dinosaur to be created

A life-sized replica of a dinosaur that roamed the Bristol area more then 210 million years ago is to be created.

The first thecodontosaurus, known as the Bristol Dinosaur, was discovered near what is now Bristol Zoo in 1834.

Another 11 of the dog-sized animals were uncovered in a quarry north of the city in 1975.

Scientists, who have spent four years extracting remains from rocks, say they will take about a month to create the model.

Pedro Viegas, from Bristol University, said: "Now we actually know what it looked like because we've collected thousands of bones.

"In the laboratory we've put the bones together, reconstructed the muscle over it, then the fat layer and the skin to see what the Bristol Dinosaur looked like and now we're going to sculpt it."

Earlier models made in the 1970s and 1980s were based on scientific thinking at the time.

Advances in scientific knowledge since then have allowed researchers to study the remains in greater detail and learn more about how the dinosaur looked, walked and fed.

Mr Viegas said the Bristol Dinosaur was "very important" to science.

He said the creature was "about the size of a large dog" and had a "really long tail".

The remains of at least 11 individual dinosaurs were uncovered in a quarry at Tytherington in 1975.

It has taken almost four years and nearly £300,000 of lottery funding to extract the remains from the rocks.