Finding dinosaur fossils in Ireland has long been considered "like looking for a needle in a haystack," according to Dr Mike Simms, curator of geology at National Museums Northern Ireland.
Yet two rare specimens discovered over forty years ago are now on display in Cork for six months, BBC reported.
Fossil collector Roger Byrne found the bones of two different dinosaur species on a beach in Islandmagee, County Antrim, in 1980 and 1981. The fossils, dating back 200 million years to the Jurassic period, are normally housed at the Ulster Museum but are being loaned to the Glucksman Gallery at University College Cork (UCC).
Dr Simms explained that Ireland is an unlikely place for dinosaur discoveries. "We have the wrong sort of rocks. Most of the rocks that would contain dinosaurs of the right age were eroded away long ago or were deposited out at sea," he said.
Scientific analysis in 2020, involving Dr Simms and the universities of Portsmouth and Queen’s Belfast, confirmed the fossils' origins.
One is part of the lower leg of a carnivore similar to Sarcosaurus, while the other comes from the upper leg of Scelidosaurus, a four-legged herbivore. Dr Simms called the find “extraordinary,” highlighting Byrne’s skill in spotting fossilised bones disguised as rounded black pebbles on the beach.
The exhibition, "Domain of the Dinosaurs,” will also feature skeletal casts of the apex predator Megalosaurus, herbivores Scelidosaurus and Iguanodon, and marine reptiles Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who opened the display, praised it as “a fantastic collaboration of science and the arts that truly captures the imagination.”
For the first time, the public can see the Islandmagee fossils alongside nearly 300 other specimens, offering a rare glimpse into Ireland’s prehistoric past.