Europe’s biggest meat-eating dinosaur discovered – on the Isle of Wight

SCIENTISTS have found a terrifying crocodile-headed dinosaur thought to be Europe’s ­biggest ­prehistoric meat-eater — on the Isle of Wight.

The 33ft carnivore had rows of pointy teeth, razor-sharp claws, could move quickly and would munch anything it hunted down on land or in the sea.

It was bigger than T-Rex — widely viewed as the fiercest dinosaur — and could have given the predator “a run for its money”, say experts.

Nicknamed the White Rock spinosaurid, humans would have been a light snack for the ­monster had we existed at the same time.

Only fragments of its 125-million-year-old fossilised skeleton have been found in a former lagoon.

Tests on the bones should reveal how old the goliath when it died.

Researcher Dr Jeremy Lockwood, of London’s Natural History Museum, said: “This was almost certainly Europe’s largest land predator and among the biggest that ever lived worldwide.

“It would have been terrifying.

“It was an active hunter and humans would have been easy prey. It probably could have swallowed us in a single gulp.

“As well as being exceptionally big, we think it could probably run quite fast as well — so if you came face to face with one, you might struggle to get away.

“It certainly would have given T-Rex a run for its money.

“Its bite wasn’t as powerful, but it was ­considerably longer — a really enormous animal.”

The dino was related to two other whopping carnivores found on the Isle of Wight last year.

They were the Ceratosuchops inferodios, which translates as “horned crocodile-faced hell heron”, and Riparovenator milnerae, meaning “riverbank hunter”.

Europe’s biggest meat-eating dinosaur was previously believed to be the 30ft Torvosaurus gurneyi, which once roamed Spain.