Description: Those familiar with Dinosaur Ridge know about the discovery of Jurassic dinosaurs by Arthur Lakes in 1877 and, of course, the extensive dinosaur trackway being preserved and maintained by FoDR.

However, most of us know little about the discovery, 20 years later, of contemporaneous dinosaurs along what is now the Atlantic coast of western Portugal. About 70 km (43.3 miles) northwest of Lisbon, the Lourinha and Alcobaca formations produced and continue to produce dinosaurs and other fossils similar to those in the Morrison Formation in North America. Recent work by Portuguese paleontologists in the Portuguese Jurassic beds has revealed the presence of dinosaur tracks, eggs, and embryos, as well as a number of new dinosaur taxa.

The Lourinha-Alcobaca faunas are similar to the Morrison Fauna. The portuguese formations contain similar charophytes, plants, molluscs, ostracods, fish, amphibians, sphenodonts, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, pterosaurs, mammals, and dinosaurs.

This lecture on the dinosaurs of Portugal is not recommended for children.