Quirks and Quarks

Dinosaur that Made a Splash

A new discovery of a once lost dinosaur suggests it is adapted to water - an "aquasaur."

A new discovery of a once lost dinosaur suggests it is adapted to water - an "aquasaur." 

All dinosaur finds involve hard work and luck, but, even so, the story behind the discovery of a new example of Spinosaurus Aegypticus, a huge predator bigger than T.Rex, distinguishes itself. The first fossils of the dinosaur were destroyed in World War II, and so much about the dinosaur remained mysterious to modern paleontologists. But a chance meeting with a mysterious moustachioed man, in a dusty street in Morocco, ultimately led to the discovery of a new example of Spinosaurus by Dr. Nizar Ibrahim, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic Explorer. The new fossils reveal that Spinosaurus was actually an amphibious predator - the only known aquatic-adapted dinosaur or "aquasaur." 

Related Links

  • Paper in Science
  • National Geographic News story (with video)
  • National Geographic Feature article
  • CBC News story