The last chapter of the African dinosaur: Mansouraurus

The newly discovered dinosaurs help scientists understand the final chapter of African dinosaurs.

About 80 million years ago, the newly discovered Titanosaurus, Mansouraurus, was active near a coastline in what is now Egypt's Western Desert. Drawing: Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Written by: Sarah Gibbens

　　When it comes to looks, the long-necked dinosaur mansourasaurus doesn't stand out much. But this newly discovered sauropod still attracts the attention of many paleontologists.

　　Found in Egypt, this dinosaur dates back to the late Cretaceous period, about 66-80 million years ago, and is one of the few dinosaurs found in Africa to date. In the late Cretaceous period, a huge meteorite struck what is now the Yucatan Peninsula, causing the dinosaurs to suddenly become extinct.

　　The fossil record of the late Cretaceous period in Africa is very sparse, says study contributor Matthew Lamanna, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. This means that scientists cannot determine which dinosaurs lived in which parts of Africa during this period, and how they merged with dinosaurs on other ancient continents.

　　In 2013, paleontologists at the University of Mansoura in Egypt discovered fossils of mansoura dragons in the Sahara Desert. After that, Lamanna and a group of paleontologists from multiple research institutions studied it, and the results of the study were published in the recent journal Natural Ecology and Evolution.

　　"The end of the age of dinosaurs in Africa was one of the last frontiers of dinosaur paleontology," Lamanna said. The new findings add some hard evidence to our understanding of "the situation of African animals" during this important period.

Interconnected continents

　　When dinosaurs were first born, they inhabited a continental plate made up of interconnected continents. However, when these continents began to move and eventually split, many terrestrial dinosaurs were separated by a wide ocean.

　　Some paleontologists believe that, similar to today's Australia, Cretaceous Africa was actually an island continent full of unique species. Other experts argue that the African continent at that time was still connected to its neighbors.

　　"Is Africa an isolated continent, or is it connected to the surrounding continents?" Eric Gorscak, a paleontologist at the Field Museum, asked. The new findings support the latter, he said. As of now, mansoura dragons appear to be very similar to Cretaceous sauropods found in Europe and Asia, suggesting that this Egyptian dinosaur did not evolve independently.

　　"This seems to indicate that dinosaur species from both the northern and southern hemispheres lived on the African continent," he said.

　　The new findings also provide clues to the state of global geography during the Cretaceous period, says Michael Habib, a paleontologist at the University of Southern California, who was not involved in the new study.

　　By the late Cretaceous period, the continents as we know them today may have moved to "modern" positions, he said. However, sea levels can be higher, making it difficult for animals to swim across the ocean.

　　Whether the mansoura dragon crossed a road bridge and swam to Africa from a nearby island, or reached Africa via a road not yet discovered in Europe or Asia, remains unclear.

Dig deeper

　　Part of the reason African dinosaur fossils are hard to find is actually a matter of luck, habib adds.

　　To find complete dinosaur fossils, "the right rocks need to be exposed in the right way," he says. Backward infrastructure and political conflicts have also made it difficult for paleontologists to discover African dinosaurs.

　　Scientists at the University of Mansoura and Lamanna will continue to search for dinosaur fossils in Egypt.

　　"Our understanding of African dinosaurs will deepen significantly in the coming years, but we still have a long way to go," he predicted.

(Translator: Stray Dog)