A local ranger team has played an online practical joke on April Fool’s Day by announcing the discovery of a dinosaur footprint fossil.
The Lulworth and Durdle Door Rangers posted a picture on their Facebook page today (Monday, April 1) to their followers announcing a 'revolutionary discovery' at Lulworth Cove.
They said that one of the rangers found what they described as an ‘amazing dinosaur footprint’ when they were out over the Easter weekend at the cove.
The picture shows what would appear to be a chalk worn away from the cove to form a hole, however the team joked that the 'fossil' was ‘formed by flint occupying the imprint in the chalk.’
Describing the ‘dinosaur’ as ‘unbelievable,’ the team gave more details on the find, saying it belonged to a three-toed webbed footed dinosaur roamed the area, eating primarily sea-urchins.
The cove is a popular tourist destination along the Jurassic Coast, and has been described as a ‘fossil forest’ due to its floral and faunal finds to determine that the area around it was home to conifer trees.
Rounding off the post, the team announce that the dinosaur was called ‘Saurafoolsia’ with a clear play on April Fool’s, a traditional day for practical jokes.
The post said: “One of the rangers found this amazing dinosaur footprint in the chalk at Lulworth Cove at the weekend. It’s formed by flint occupying the imprint in the chalk. This unbelievable, 3 toed, webbed footed dinosaur roamed the area and ate primarily sea urchins. This dinosaur was called Saurafoolsia."
The rangers team are based on the Lulworth Estate and are involved in environmental land management and education in the area.
Elsewhere, Dorset Search and Rescue joined in the April Fool's fun by announcing that they were undertaking a lengthy journey to Mars for a specialised training session.
In a social media post, a spokesman said 'Please wish them a safe seven month journey back to #Dorset'.
And in keeping with the good-natured humour of the day, Wareham Fire Station teased that firefighters are 'proud to be trialling a new type of fire engine this year.'
"Not only is this pump environmentally friendly but it allows us to access places where we cannot get our 18 ton fire engine," they wrote.
And here's the new 'environmentally friendly' engine!
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