Laurence Dollimore
A DINOSAUR bone which could belong to a Tyrannosaurus Rex has halted building works in Mallorca – or so many were led to believe this morning.
The long, spine-shaped fossil was ‘discovered by workers in Magaluf and may have belonged to a T-rex which lived in the area some 69 million years ago’, reported Calvia Town Hall.
Apparently, the amazing discovery meant that palaeontologists from around the world were planning to arrive to the island this week to excavate the area.
“The works on Avenida s’Olivera de Magaluf will remain paused until the excavation is completed and a study of the remains is carried out,” read the town hall’s Facebook page.
“In a few weeks we will know if the experts will allow for the works to continue or if a greater dig must take place, putting a stop to the building indefinitely.”
The news enraged some, including Brits, who had failed to see it was all part of a cruel prank to celebrate Spain’s Day of the Holy Innocents.
“Unbelievable, the town hall looking for any excuse to stop the works in Magaluf have now apparently found a dinosaur bone,” wrote one duped expat in a since-deleted post on Facebook.
Another commented below the fake fossil news: “Bravo Calvia for pausing the work, hopefully the experts can quickly gain their knowledge and remove the remains so this important work can continue before too long.”
The Day of the Holy Innocents falls on December 28 each year and is essentially the Spanish version of the UK’s April Fools Day.
It sees pranksters tell untruths before shouting ‘inocente!’ to reveal it was a joke.
Much like in Britain, organisations and the media all join in on the fun, printing harmless ‘fake’ stories to dupe the public.
While today’s dinosaur gaffe pulled the wool over some people’s eyes, many were quick to see the joke.
“They have named the dinosaur mañana-Rex the laziest dinosaur in the world,” joked expat-run Eastenders Bar Magaluf.
Dozens of others simply commented ‘inocente, inocente!’, in tradition with the Day of the Holy Innocents.
According to the National Geographic, the Tyrannosaurus Rex was native to the forested river valleys in western North America during the late Cretaceous period, some 68 million years ago.
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