Sahara dig uncovers two new dinosaur species

by Stevie Smith - Dec 17 2008, 13:00

While not necessarily the first place you’d expect to find the fossils of magnificent prehistoric beasts, the mighty Sahara desert has this week thrown up not one but two potentially new species of dinosaur from within its baking sands.

Unearthed in Morocco, the fossilised remains are believed to belong to a flying pterosaur and a plant-eating sauropod. And, interestingly, initial analysis carried out by the team of scientists responsible for the discovery suggests the specimens are previously unknown to science.

Despite the possible impact of the team’s find, the fruits of its month-long expedition were certainly hard earned after being pummelled by storms and even floods during the journey back from the hard-to-reach Saharan dig site.

Specifically, the team’s challenge was far from over once the remains had been safely uncovered, as getting the massive bones out of the desert with just a Land Rover soon proved.

“There was a point when we wondered if we would make it out of the desert with the [sauropod] bone,” explained project leader Nizar Ibrahim of University College Dublin in a Times Online report. “But we had worked so hard to find it there was no way I was leaving it behind.”

Devoted to the task at hand, the team persevered for five days and eventually succeeded in lifting the bone from the ground and hauling it away, despite the trusty Land Rover repeatedly sinking into the sand due to the extreme weight.

“Our journey home was equally eventful,” added team member David Martill of the University of Portsmouth. “While crossing the Atlas Mountains we got caught in a snowstorm and total whiteout. But it’s all been worth it.”

In terms of the find’s fossilised content, the team was thrilled to secure the beak of a pterosaur, a huge flying creature believed to have lived some 100 million years ago and not known for offering up good remains due to the lightweight nature of the creature’s skeleton.

The problematic sauropod bone measured in at more than a metre in length and is thought to have come from the leg of a gigantic long-necked plant-eater in the same dinosaur family as the diplodocus.

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