Natural History Museum to send fossil hunters to US 'Jurassic Mile'

New dinosaur discoveries could be heading to the Natural History Museum after it agreed to send a team of fossil hunters to America.

They will work with teams from the US and Holland in an area of Wyoming known as the Jurassic Mile, where expeditions have already uncovered the fossilised bones of two giant creatures — a 24-metre-long brachiosaurus and 30-metre-long diplodocus — with more expected to be found.

Palaeontologists Susannah Maidment and Paul Barrett said they hoped the month-long trip, which will see about 10 staff travel to the states, could become a five-year project.

Nearly 600 fossilised bones, weighing almost 5.4 tonnes, have been collected over the past two years and Professor Barrett said they provided “hints that there is a lot more to be found”.

The site, which is only a small section of a vast 600,000-square mile rock formation across the western states, is a famous hunting ground for fossils.

Dr Maidment said she expected to find examples of “old favourites”, including the stegosaurus, as well as previously undiscovered creatures.

She said: “Dinosaurs dominated terrestrial ecosystems for 170 million years and for much of that time anything larger than one metre that lived on land was a dinosaur, so there was a huge diversity of dinosaurs, so we’ve not even remotely scratched the surface.”

The museum will post updates from the dig online. The South Kensington institution is already home to thousands of fossilised remains, including part of the first tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered and the skull of a triceratops, while an iconic former attraction, the 70ft replica diplodocus known as Dippy, is drawing huge crowds on a three-year UK tour.

Clare Matterson, director of engagement at the museum, said: “We are thrilled to be able to share the dinosaur dig as it happens via our digital channels and excited about the possibility of acquiring new fossils to add to our world-leading dinosaur gallery in London and future touring exhibitions.”

Any remains found will be packed in plaster of Paris and examined at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, before being shipped to London.