A PREHISTORIC monster was seen near Bude on Monday, much to the delight of schoolchildren.

But Viv the Velociraptor was not as ferocious as those in Jurassic Park.

The life-size model of – to give it it's full name – velociraptorinae deironychus, visited St Mark's School, Morwenstow, to mark the start of science and engineering week.

The dinosaur day gave pupils the chance to investigate evidence of dinosaur diets, habitats, skin and bones by handling fossils and teeth and examining photographs of museum exhibits. They even became palaeontologists by excavating bones and fossils.

Other activities included fossil sorting and matching, sorting models into species and types by their features and finding on a world map the countries where various dinosaur fossils have been discovered.