Morocco are the earliest known aquatic dinosaur – La Vanguardia

Washington. (Efe) .- Scientists on Thursday unveiled the capacity move land and the Water the Spinosaurus aegyptiacus , with a dimension larger than the Tyrannosaurus rex , becomes the first aquatic dinosaur known .

The analysis of digitized fossil bones of this species has revealed a number of “unique adaptations” that allowed him to succeed in the aquatic environment, a feature that opens a new dimension in the study of these prehistoric animals .

The discovery, published today in the scientific weekly Science , take the cover of the October issue of National Geographic magazine, which held an exhibition at its headquarters in Washington and documentary about that dinosaur.

Experts conclude that pelvic band and hind limbs were smaller than those species that were related and the center of gravity seems to have moved back to facilitate movement in the water.

The dinosaur could retract their fleshy nostrils to a position over his head, to ease breathing when he was partially submerged, and had flat feet, possibly webbed, with the Scientists believe that helped propel the water.

He also had long thin jaws with sharp teeth in the form of an inverted cone which, researchers say, look like the “perfect tool” to capture aquatic prey such as sawfish, which is believed to be abundant in the rivers of North Africa in the Cretaceous.

These adaptations totally different from the earlier discovered specimens of this species that populated the planet 95 million years and, although it was known that eating fish, it was thought that he lived on earth.

“The animal we’ve rebuilt it so strange that will force scholars to rethink many things they thought they knew about dinosaurs, “he said in a teleconference paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim, University of Chicago, lead author of the research.

The Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was discovered in the early twentieth century in the Sahara Desert in Egypt, but the study of their morphology could not be completed because the fossils were destroyed in a bombing during World War II.

However, the finding from 2008 a series of fossils much most complete found in the region of Kem Kem, Morocco, including parts of a skull, the axial column, pelvic band and traces of limbs, has allowed this species to study again with new elements.