Do you know what kind of animal this mysterious claw belongs to? Experts were left “baffled” by a “dinosaur claw” found in the couple’s front lawn
A couple have apparently left animal experts baffled after a mysterious claw was found in their front garden in Wales.
Laura Moorcroft of Buckley, Flintshire, “immediately thought it was from a dinosaur” when she and her husband discovered the remains.
She said: ‘My husband and I just got back from a walk and he noticed it on the lawn. It seems to us prehistoric – a scaly paw resembling a lizard.
“We’re big fans of Jurassic Park so we immediately thought it was from a dinosaur, I mean it looks very lizard-like, right?”
Sharing her photo online, Laura had locals pondering their guesses. Some said it was from a bird or poultry, but others suspected something of a reptile such as a crocodile, alligator, or turtle.
A couple have apparently left animal experts baffled after a mysterious claw was found in their front garden in Wales
Seeking a more informed opinion, Laura, 36, reached out to Chester Zoo and a nearby vet. Both said it came from a bird, but even they couldn’t agree on what kind.
“One said it looked like a pheasant and the other a turkey, so we’re still the wiser,” said Laura.
She added: ‘We have security cameras but it’s a bit far out in the park to catch anything, so it’s still a mystery. I like our guess about Velociraptor (a small dinosaur) better; I like that people are like-minded.
I saw someone who thought it was a Gremlin! We didn’t think something like this would get everyone’s attention, she said of the online responses to her photo.
Laura Moorcroft (pictured) of Buckley, Flintshire, ‘immediately thought it was from a dinosaur’ when she and her husband discovered the remains
Modern birds are descended from theropods, a group that includes birds of prey and Tyrannosaurus rex, according to Scientific American.
“The first birds were almost identical to the late embryo of Velociraptor,” Harvard biologist Arkhat Abzhanov told the magazine.
Unlike its cinematic counterpart, the real Velociraptor was also feathered and about the same size as turkeys.
