The Times - UK (2021-12-22)

the times | Wednesday December 22 2021 V2 21

News

A 10ft-long feathered dinosaur that

used brute strength to overcome its

prey has been unearthed on the Isle of

Wight.

The bird-like dinosaur, which dates

back more than 100 million years, is the

first large raptor found in the UK.

The dinosaur has been named

Vectiraptor greeni after Mick Green, the

fossil hunter who found the remains in

2004 but did not appreciate their

importance until illness forced him to

stop collecting in 2012.

He turned his attention to prising the

bones from the ironstone surrounding

them and showed them to Megan Ja-

cobs, an Isle of Wight palaeontologist,

and Dr Nick Longrich, from the Uni-

versity of Bath.

The bones, which were found to

represent a new species, have been

donated to the Dinosaur Isle museum

in Sandown, on the Isle of Wight.

The vectiraptor was estimated to be

about the size of a wolf with huge slash-

ing talons on its feet to kill its prey. Its

finely serrated teeth were then used to

bite off pieces of the kill.

Jacobs said: “This dinosaur serves as

an excellent example of the importance

of amateur fossil collectors.”

One of the best-preserved fossils yet
discovered has revealed that young
dinosaurs broke out of their shells using
the same technique as baby birds.
The specimen, which has been
named Baby Yingliang, was found in
Ganzhou in southeast China and be-
longs to a group of feathered dinosaurs
known as oviraptorosaurs.
The embryo, which would have lived
70 million years ago, provides the first
clear evidence that dinosaurs assumed
postures reminiscent of modern birds
as the time approached for them to
hatch.
Professor Steve Brusatte of
Edinburgh University, part of
the research team, said:
“This dinosaur embryo
inside its egg is one of the
most beautiful fossils I
have ever seen.” He de-

Tiny dinosaur’s chicken-and-egg debate

scribed it as a “one-in-a-billion glimpse

inside a dinosaur egg at those last mo-

ments before the baby dinosaur

hatched into the world”.

Since the 1990s palaeontologists

have discovered many more connec-

tions between birds and the dinosaurs

from which they descended. It is now

thought, for instance, that predators

such as Tyrannosaurus rex would have

sported tufts of feathers.

However, the posture of Baby Ying-

liang inside its 17cm egg had not been

seen previously. The creature is folded

over, with its head nestling between its

legs. Its arms are pressed against either

side of its neck, almost as if it is covering

its ears. Its back is curled along the

blunter end of the egg, with its long tail

filling the more pointed end. The em-

bryo itself is about 27cm long.

In modern birds such postures,

known as “tucking”, are critical for

successful hatching. The researchers

now propose that this behaviour, which

had been considered unique to birds,

evolved in theropod dinosaurs, possibly

hundreds of millions of years ago.

Fion Waisum Ma, a researcher at

Birmingham University and one of the

lead authors of the study, said: “Dino-

saur embryos are some of the rarest

fossils, and most are incomplete,

with the bones dislocated.

“It is interesting to see that

this dinosaur embryo and a

chicken embryo pose in a simi-

lar way inside the egg, which

possibly indicates similar pre-

hatching behaviours.”

The study was published in the

journal iScience.

10ft raptor named after

Isle of Wight fossil hunter

Will Humphries

Southwest Correspondent

Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent

j

The fossil reveals a dinosaur
that was preparing to hatch

Vectiraptor greeni was as big as a wolf

A former champion jockey who was
paralysed in a fall is in line for millions
of pounds in compensation after a
judge ruled that a rival’s “reckless” rid-
ing caused a collision.
Freddy Tylicki fractured his spine
and suffered multiple broken ribs when
his horse fell and he was trampled by
other runners at a race at Kempton
Park in 2016. The incident ended his
career and forced the former British flat
racing champion apprentice to rely on a
wheelchair.
Tylicki, now a Sky Sports commenta-
tor, had brought a claim in the High
Court against fellow jockey Graham
Gibbons, alleging his rival was respon-
sible for a four-horse collision. His legal
team claimed he should be awarded

£6 million in compensation because
Gibbons’s riding was “dangerous in the
extreme”.
It was claimed that Gibbons directed
his mount, Madame Butterfly, into the
path of Tylicki’s ride, Nellie Deen. Gib-
bons had denied riding negligently or
breaking any race rules.
But Judge Karen Walden-Smith
ruled yesterday that 39-year-old Gib-
bons was at fault and should pay com-
pensation. She said his actions “were
not mere lapses of concentration or in-
attentiveness”, but were instead “un-
dertaken in reckless disregard for the
safety of Mr Tylicki”.
Gibbons should have known that
Tylicki was on his inside, close to the

Freddy Tylicki

could now be

awarded millions

in compensation

after the incident

Jockey left

paralysed by

fall wins case

against rival

Jonathan Ames Legal Editor rail, the judge said, and yet he con-
tinued to move his horse across into his
path, causing the accident.
Damages were not assessed at the
hearing and The Times understands the
parties could reach a negotiated settle-
ment for the payout.
As Tylicki’s claim involves compen-
sation for the loss of his career and the
cost of covering his needs as a severely
disabled man, the payout is certain to
run into millions.
The ruling will focus attention on the
British Horseracing Authority (BHA)
as its stewards at Kempton Park took
only a few minutes to rule that the colli-
sion was accidental.
Speaking after the ruling, Tylicki said
he was “delighted” with the “court’s
confirmation that, contrary to the
views of the BHA stewards, my fall...
was caused by the reckless riding of
Graham Gibbons”.
Tylicki highlighted it had taken five
years “to overcome the injustice of the
stewards’ inquiry that took place at
Kempton immediately after the race”.
He added: “I remain [very] disappointed
that the stewards felt it was appropriate
to conclude in a matter of minutes that
my fall was caused by an accidental clip-
ping of heels, without hearing from any
of the four jockeys brought down.”
After the ruling Tylicki’s solicitor said
the stewards’ inquiry heard evidence
from only two jockeys, one of whom
was Gibbons. He added that all the
jockeys who fell could not provide
statements to the stewards “because
they were being treated on the track or
because they were in an ambulance”.
A spokesman for the BHA said it will
“consider the High Court judgment in
detail and carefully assess what impli-
cations it may hold for British racing”.
Lawyers at the firm Ashfords, which
acted for Gibbons, did not respond to
requests for comment.

A

huntsman has

been filmed

hitting his

horse with a

whip before a

furious onlooker

screamed foul-mouthed

abuse at animal activists

(Neil Johnston writes).

The video, filmed by

hunt saboteurs, was taken

as the Warwickshire

Hunt gathered near

Broughton last

Wednesday and the

activists claimed the

video shows “death

threats, animal abuse and

road chaos” as well as a

fox being illegally chased.

The Warwickshire

Hunt said its lawful

hunting was “deliberately

portrayed inaccurately”

and that one of its

members was “physically

attacked” by one of the

saboteurs whom it

described as balaclava-

wearing “extremists”.

In the video released by

West Midlands Hunt

Saboteurs, one huntsman

can be seen striking his

f***ing face.” Saboteurs

then filmed what appears

to be a fox being hunted

by hounds along the busy

A4035 road. The clash

comes before the biggest

date in the hunt calendar

on Boxing Day.

“We’ve all seen the

Cottesmore pony

punchers well now we

have the Warwickshire

horse hitters,” the group

said.

Warwickshire police

said they had not

received any reports over

the incidents but urged

anyone with video to get

in contact.

Trial by social media,

Thunderer, page 34

WEST MIDS HUNT SABOTEURS/SWNS

Saboteurs say that video

footage shows a horse

being hit with a riding crop

and a tirade of abuse

Hunt saboteurs film

‘horse whipping

and death threats’

horse with a riding crop

forcing it to recoil. The

video emerged a day after

Sarah Moulds, a teacher,

was sacked for punching

and kicking a horse

during a meeting of the

Cottesmore Hunt. The

saboteurs also filmed a

man on a country lane

who they claim was a

hunt supporter and who

was filmed swearing at

one of the group in a

“tirade of sexist and

threatening abuse”.

The man can be seen

marching over to her and

telling her: “You’re a

gobshite. You’ve got a

f***ing gob on you... F***

off, bitch, you just leave

me alone. What have I

done to you?”

“What do you think

your life is worth? Get

that camera out of my