DinoDawn Expedition

Painted illustration of Metoposaurus, the super salamander, swimming under the surface of a Triassic lake with small fish.

For young explorers

DinoDawn Kids

Meet the animals that lived in Portugal when dinosaurs were new, and see how a fossil dig works.

Animals of the Triassic Algarve

Painted illustration of Metoposaurus seen from above, showing its wide flat head and salamander body.

The Super Salamander

Metoposaurus was an amphibian as long as a tall grown-up, and its flat head was shaped like a toilet seat.

Painted close view of a phytosaur head showing the 2 nostrils on a bump between its eyes, among horsetails and ferns

The Crocodile that Wasn’t

Phytosaurs looked and lived like crocodiles, but their nostrils sat up near their eyes.

Painted illustration of a placodont seen from above, with a broad flat shell made of many small plates.

The Reptile in a Shell

Placodonts lived in shallow water and wore armor like a turtle’s, yet they were not turtles.

Hand holding a piece of rock with a dark fossil fragment on its surface.

The First Clues

In 2025 the team found the first clues that early relatives of mammals lived here. Mammals are the animal family that includes you.

Painted illustration of hands washing red sand through a sieve over a tub of water, with a microscope on a field table.

Fossils the Size of a Rice Grain

Many of the fossils are tiny. The team finds them by washing sand through sieves and searching it under a microscope.

How a Fossil Dig Works

Plan Ahead

Scientists get permits, study maps and old fossil records, and check that wildlife and habitats stay protected.

Test the Ground

Small test trenches show how hard the rock is and where fossils may lie. Samples go to the laboratory.

Map the Site

The site is laid out in a labeled grid, so every fossil has its own address.

Free the Fossils

In 2026 the team digs with hand tools and sieves. Big finds are wrapped in plaster, like a cast on a broken arm. A digging machine and a rock saw helped once, in 2025.

Close Up

Every find gets a number and field notes. Open ground is covered again so rain can’t wash it away, and the fossils travel to the laboratory.

Back in the Triassic

Painted diagram in 3 steps: an amphibian sinks into lake mud, its skeleton lies under layers of rock, and a gloved hand with a brush uncovers it
Buried in lake mud, turned to stone, found millions of years later
Painted illustration of a cynodont, a small forerunner of mammals that may have had fur, peeking out from under a log in the rain.
Cynodont, a forerunner of mammals that may have had fur
Artist's reconstruction of a large crocodile cousin that walked on land with upright legs, a top predator about 235 million years ago.
A crocodile cousin that walked on land
Painted illustration of a phytosaur resting on a red mudbank with its long jaws open and its nostrils up near its eyes.
Phytosaur, the crocodile that wasn’t: its nostrils sit up near its eyes
Painted illustration of a placodont, a reptile with a flat shell of small bony plates, paddling through a turquoise lagoon.
Placodont, a reptile with a shell
Painted illustration of a rainstorm filling the rivers of a red Triassic valley where giant amphibians swim.
The Triassic rains that filled the rivers
Team members wrapping a fossil block in a plaster jacket at the dig.
Real photo: wrapping a fossil block in plaster
Hands holding pieces of split red rock from the dig.
Real photo: split rock from the dig
Rock hammer and an Explorers Club challenge coin for scale, resting on grey and red rock at an Algarve outcrop.
Real photo: a rock hammer, with a coin to show how big things are

Coloring Pages and Fun Facts

Fun Facts About the Dig (PDF)
Color with DinoDawn (PDF)
Coloring Page (PDF)