While walking his dog, a man found a 70-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton

While walking his dog, a man found a 70-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton .

Damien Boschetto found pieces of a massive fossil in May 2022 while walking with his dog Muffin in the forests of Montouliers, near his home in Cruzy, a village in the southern part of France, according to ABC News and the Washington Post.

"It happened one morning like any other, during an ordinary walk," Boschetto told the media. "While walking the dog, a landslide on the edge of the cliff exposed the bones of various skeletons."

The amateur paleontologist waited until now to announce his major finding so that the site where officials excavated the skeleton would remain protected from pillagers and other curious individuals, he told ABC News.

Boschetto, who is 25 years old, and members of the Archaeological and Paleontological Cultural Association (ACAP) at the Cruzy Museum worked to unearth the skeleton over a two-year period, the Post reported.

The type of herbivorous dinosaur that Boschetto found was known for its very long neck. These dinosaurs lived during the Cretaceous period, which lasted from 145 million to 66 million years ago, according to the Post.

The Frenchman, who has since left his job in the energy sector to pursue a master's degree in paleontology, told CNN that finding the 30-foot-long fossil in its original anatomical position is "always exciting and interesting for scientific research."

"These discoveries are interesting from a scientific point of view because they contribute to the understanding of the species and ecosystems of the late Cretaceous of France and Europe," museum director Francis Fages told the Post.

Now, the approximately 30-foot-long skeleton is on view to the public at the Cruzy Museum.

This discovery could provide valuable insights into the paleontological history of the region and contribute to our understanding of dinosaur species that lived in France during the late Cretaceous period.