A fossil of dinosaur duck-billed, also known as Ajnabia Odysseus, was discovered in Morocco by an international research team. Specialists were unaware that this species had existed on the African continent, report our colleagues from Parisian Tuesday 17th November.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Center for Paleontology Research – Paris, the University of Bath, the Basque Country and the University G. Washington – was published in the journal Cretaceous Researsh.
A discovery that seemed “unimaginable”
The fossil in question was brought out of the earth in a mine located not far from Casablanca within a geological layer that dates back 66 million years. Paleontologists believe that this duck-billed dinosaur first lived in North America, then in Asia via a land bridge between the two continents at that time and finally in Europe.
“At the time, Africa was an island continent separated from other continents by vast oceans. Until the discovery of Ajnabia, it was unimaginable that “duckbills” were on this continent. Their presence in Africa could be compared to the discovery of an elephant in Australia ”, specifies a communicated of the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN).
A good swimmer
Paleontologists deduced that this dinosaur was an excellent swimmer, thanks to a large tail and powerful legs.
“This discovery proves that the oceanic barrier was not so impassable for this large herbivore and that it undoubtedly colonized Africa by swimming hundreds of kilometers from the European continent”, added paleontologist Nour-Eddine Jalil, professor at MNHN, cited by The Parisian.
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