Two strange species of dinosaurs with bulldog snouts discovered in Africa

2023-08-24 17:11:47

In a discovery that caused much surprise in the world scientific community, a team of paleontologists from england found Fossil remains of two strange new species of dinosaurs in the upper Maastrichtian of the Ouled Abdoun Basin, in northern Morocco, Africa,

As reported by specialists to the specialized portal Cretaceous Researchthe remains belong to primitive cousins ​​of the Tyrannosaurus Rex who lived in the Tierra at the beginning of Cretaceous period and that were distinguished by their particular short snouts very similar to those of bulldogs and for their conspicuous very short arms.

While among the fossil remains of the first of the two new species of dinosaurs that were found in the vicinity of the city of Sidi Daou he was right metatarsal of a small animal that mediates between 1.90 and 2.60 meters longamong the fossils of the second species that was found in the vicinity of the city of Sidi Chennane, found a tibia with a cnemial crest strongly hookedor a carnivore about 5 meters long that resembles the Quilmesaurus y Aucasaurus sudamericans

Both species were part of a family of primitive carnivorous dinosaurs known as abelisaurs, and lived alongside the much larger abelisaur called Chenanisaurus barbaricuswhich, the researchers pointed out, clearly demonstrates that Morocco was the favorite habitat of many dinosaur species just before a giant asteroid hit at the end of the Cretaceous, causing their total extinction from the planet.

“The surprising thing here is that these two new species were found on the seabedin a shallow tropical sea full of plesiosaurs, mosasaurs and of sharks. It’s not exactly a place where you’d expect to find a lot of dinosaurs, but we are finding them.”commented the Dr Nick Longrich, from the Milner Center for Evolution at the University of Bath. England.

“We also found other fossils, but they are currently under study.. when the T. rex reigned as a mega-predator in North Americalos abelisaurs They were at the top of food chains in North Africa, so we can’t say much about them right now, except that it was a surprisingly diverse dinosaur faunas that, at least in Morocco, appear to have remained diverse and successful until the end of their existence on Earth”, concluded the main person responsible for the discovery.