Abelisauroid, a killer dinosaur, lived in Egypt 98 million years ago

CAIRO – 8 June 2022: An international team of vertebrate paleontologists led by Egypt succeeded in documenting the fossil of a predatory dinosaur that lived 98 million years ago in the Bahariya Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt.

The scientific research announced Wednesday that about 98 million years ago, in the Bahariya Oasis area in the Egyptian desert, a fierce dinosaur similar to the famous T-Rex dinosaur, lived.

A model of the discovered dinosaur

In one of the joint field trips between the Mansoura University Center for Vertebrate Fossils and scientists from the Ministry of Environment in Al-Wahat region, the team found a fossil of a vertebra covered with solid deposits of iron and sand. By conducting the detailed anatomical study, which took several years after removing the sediments and restoring the fossil, it was found that it represents the tenth cervical vertebra of the neck of a huge carnivorous dinosaur.

Dinosaur discovered in Egypt - social media

The Egyptian research team - social media

From the dinosaur's fossils - social media

According to the research team, fortunately, this type of vertebrae combines enough anatomical characteristics to show that it belongs to a member of a family of dinosaurs called Abelisauroids or Abel dinosaurs. The origin of the name "Abel" is attributed to Roberto Abel, the Argentine scientist, who discovered the first fossils of this family.

The research team explained that these dinosaurs are distinguished by their terrifying shape and frightening skull. They had sharp teeth similar to the blades of knives, and their hind feet show a huge muscle mass that helped them attack and prey. Although their front ends were short to the point of atrophy, these dinosaurs were among the fiercest of all.

It is also reported that the dinosaurs "Abel" were roaming the ancient southern continents (Gondwana) and Europe. The research team compared this vertebra with its counterparts from different continents, and her results of the genealogical tree showed there is a close relationship between the Egyptian Abel dinosaur and its peers from South America, even closer than the relationship with the dinosaurs of Madagascar and Europe. This supports the theory of Madagascar's separation from Africa before its separation from South America.

The study states that when explorers of the 20th century excavated the Bahariya Oasis, they were surprised by the large number of carnivorous dinosaur skeletons compared to the number of the herbivorous dinosaurs that inhabited the area. Scientists were able to discover fossils of almost complete skeletons of three meat-eating dinosaurs: Spinosaurus (the largest predatory dinosaur that lived on Earth), Carcharodontosaurus and Bahariasaurus, in addition to a herbivorous dinosaur, Aegyptosaurus.

Since then, even after the original fossils of those dinosaurs were destroyed in World War II, no dinosaurs were detected in this region, until an American team managed at the beginning of the current century to discover a giant, herbivorous dinosaur called Paralititan. The rest of the oasis land monsters of carnivorous dinosaurs remain buried in the rocks.

Hisham Salam, founder of the Center for Vertebrate Fossils at Mansoura University, head of the Egyptian team, and professor at the American University in Cairo, says that about 98 million years ago, Bahariya Oasis was not known by this name, but was known as the Dinosaur Oasis, which it literally was. According to Salam, the oasis teemed with life, and bloody conflicts that prevailed between different animals, especially dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs of that oasis lived along the banks of an ancient river known as the Titans River, where some of the largest carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs resided.