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Scientists have revealed that the duck-billed dinosaur, whose remains were found in Morocco and lived 66 million years ago, “probably took at least 250 miles from the ocean to get there.”
Paleontologists from the University of Bath and others have uncovered the fossilized remains of an unusual dinosaur, nicknamed Ajnabia odysseus, in rocks in Morocco.
This is the first time that a member of the duck-billed dinosaur family has been found in Africa, indicating it had to cross oceans to reach its destination and researchers have not been able to determine its exact source or actual distance traveled.
Ajnabia odysseus was about 10 feet long, about the size of a pony, and was a member of a variety of duck-eating dinosaurs that evolved in North America.
At the time this dinosaur lived, Africa was an island continent surrounded by water, and so far this species has only been found in North America, Europe and Asia.
Dr Nicholas Longrich, of the Milner Center for Evolution at the University of Bath, said he discovered the fossil in a mine just hours from Casablanca.
He noted that it was “the last thing you expect in the world” and it was “totally out of place, like finding a kangaroo in Scotland”.
“It was impossible to walk in Africa. These dinosaurs evolved long after continental drift divided continents and we have no evidence of land bridges, ”Langrich said.
Given the possible planning of the planet at that time, there were no shallow platforms that could form a land bridge between Europe and Africa.
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Geology tells us that the oceans were isolated from Africa. If so, the only way to get there is through water, Longreach said, indicating the dinosaur had to swim to its destination.
While the team couldn’t say how long it would take to swim or where exactly the dinosaur came from, they speculated it was likely from Europe.
Longreach told the British newspaper “Daily Mail” that he had to swim 250 miles (400 km) or so, perhaps somewhere in what is now Europe. He explained: “I suppose if the sea level drops a little, depending on the careful reconstruction, it might be a little lower … but it’s a very long way!”
Scientists examined Ajnabia odysseus’ characteristic teeth and jaws and found that it belonged to the Leptostomia, a genus of winged reptiles with a long beak dating back to the Cretaceous period.
Lambeosaurs evolved in North America before spreading to Asia and Europe, but have not been discovered in Africa before.
The dinosaur would have had to be duck-billed across hundreds of miles of open water, paddling over debris or swimming, to reach Africa.
The reptiles were likely strong at swimming, as they had wide tails and strong legs, and were often found in river sediments and sea rocks.
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In reference to this ability to swim, the dinosaur is called Ajnabia odysseus, since Ajnabia is an Arabic word that refers precisely to “foreigner”, and odysseus comes from the Greek seas.
Ocean crossings are rare occurrences, but have previously been observed in other ancient lizard species, including the green iguana that used debris to travel between Caribbean islands during a hurricane.
The turtles also roamed the Seychelles for hundreds of miles across the Indian Ocean, reaching the coasts of Africa.
“Over the course of millions of years, these events are likely to happen multiple times once in a century,” said Dr. Longrich.
Ocean crossings are needed to explain how lemurs and hippos got to Madagascar or how monkeys and rodents went from Africa to South America.
Dr Noureddine Jalil, of the Sorbonne University Natural History Museum, described how dinosaurs arrived in Africa and found a fossil of a wild animal in a marine environment as “an unlikely chain of events”.
“This highlights the paucity of our discovery and therefore its importance,” said Dr. Jalil. Ajnabia shows us that hadrosaurs have trampled the African land and tells us that ocean barriers are not always an insurmountable obstacle.
Source: Daily Mail
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