Only a few kilometres from Les Labadous, the Aude valley hosts important fossil locations, including famous dinosaur sites. The museum in Espéraza displays some of the material found in this area, including the complete skeleton of a spectacular Titanosaurus, locally called ‘Lucy’, which represents a new species: Ampelosaurus atacis (Le Loeuff, 2005).
‘Lucy’ lived at Bellevue above Campagne-sur-Aude, in the late Cretaceous period, some 72 million years ago. Heavily armoured with bony plates, she spent her days peacefully grazing a shallow lagoon and the rivers above. The dinosaur eggs found nearby show that she was not alone. Upon her death, her skeleton became disjointed in a river and transported to a quiet …
Fossil sites between Campagne and Espéraza have been known already in the Paleontologists