Moroccan Fossil Discovery Unveils Thriving Dinosaur Diversity Before Extinction Event

The Chicxulub asteroid, measuring between 10 and 12 kilometers, has historically been identified as responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The celestial object crashed into the current Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), forming a crater of more than 180 kilometers in diameter. According to several theories and studies, this impact has led to a massive extinction of dinosaurs. But a recent study provides insights into how the last dinosaurs disappeared.

Published in The Conversation, the study conducted by Nicholas R. Longrich, a lecturer in paleontology and evolutionary biology at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, reveals that the fossils of abelisaurs - a voracious predator - discovered near Casablanca, on an ancient seabed dating back to the last million years of the dinosaur era, could provide new clues about the species that populated the Earth during the Cretaceous period and how they evolved.

The researchers found fish bones and scales, shark teeth, and marine reptiles alongside the fossils, reports El Debate. Two abelisaurs have been identified in the remains found in Morocco. According to the study, the dinosaurs that populated the area considered as Africa today for more than 100 million years diversified, giving rise to a wide range of species.

Among the last dinosaurs of Africa, there were herbivores (sauropod titanosaurs the size of an elephant with long necks, and duck-billed dinosaurs the size of a horse) and large predators such as Tyrannosaurus rex, or Chenanisaurus barbaricus, 10 meters long. In short, the fossils discovered in Morocco have shown that the dinosaur fauna was much more diverse than previously thought.