Scientists in the desert of Niger, a country in West Africa, have discovered a previously unknown and giant species of dinosaur, described as the largest of its kind in over a century.
Experts stated that its size was comparable to the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex. The discovered skeleton indicates that the new dinosaur measured approximately 40 feet in length, with a sword-like crest on its head measuring 20 inches.
According to foreign media reports, this dinosaur, named Spinosaurus, roamed the African continent around 95 million years ago.
Research published in the scientific journal Science indicates that the fossils belong to Spinosaurus mirabilis, which Paul Sereno, a palaeontologist and head of the research team at the University of Chicago, has described as a “hell heron”.
Media reports note that Paul Sereno stated that the skull length, neck size, and proportion of the hind limbs show a structure very similar to that of a heron.
The dinosaur lived at a time when today’s barren desert was covered with lush forests and rivers. Previously, most Spinosaurus fossils had been found near the coastal regions of North Africa.
Some experts believed that this fish-eating creature lived entirely in water, hunting in deep waters. However, this time the fossils were discovered hundreds of miles inland, far from the sea.
