[martin@srv0.ems.ed.ac.uk: Scientists unearth Tyrannosaurus Rex's big brother]

[bz050@freenet.carleton.ca (Ben S. Roesch)]

    ================= Begin forwarded message =================

    From: martin@srv0.ems.ed.ac.uk ("Martin Adamson")
    To: forteana@lists.primenet.com
    Subject: Scientists unearth Tyrannosaurus Rex's big brother
    Date: Fri, 17 May
    
    Home News 
    
    Electronic Telegraph 
    
    Friday May 17 1996
    
    Scientists unearth Tyrannosaurus Rex's big brother
    
    By Roger Highfield, Science Editor 
    
    THE largest flesh-eating dinosaur ever found may have been
    unearthed in the Moroccan Sahara, it is announced today.
    
    Named Carcharodontosaurus saharicus - shark-toothed reptile from
    the Sahara - it dates from the last chapter of dinosaur evolution
    90 million years ago.
    
    It was found, along with a new species of swift, "pursuit-type"
    dinosaur, by a team led by Dr Paul Sereno, a University of Chicago
    palaeontologist.
    
    The Carcharodontosaurus specimen may be "the biggest meat-eating
    dinosaur yet discovered," said Dr Angela Milner, head of the
    fossil vertebrates division at the Natural History Museum.
    
    Until today's announcement in the journal Science, evidence of
    large carnivorous dinosaurs similar to Tyrannosaurus Rex had only
    been found in North and South America and Asia. The find adds
    Africa to the list.
    
    "Every continent that we go to, we now see some kind of a gigantic
    carnivorous animal," said Dr Mark Norell of the American Museum of
    Natural History, New York.
    
    The fossils - including a near complete skull - solve a
    longstanding mystery surrounding bones and serrated teeth
    discovered in Egypt at the beginning of the century but later
    destroyed in the Second World War.
    
    The teeth in the huge Carcharodontosaurus skull found by Dr
    Sereno's team matched the description of the lost Egyptian teeth.
    
    About 5ft 4in long, the skull rivals the largest known head of
    Tyrannosaurus rex, which lived 65 to 70 million years ago in North
    America. Dr Sereno estimates the animal's length at 45ft, making
    it slightly bigger than T Rex.
    
    He said: "It is a stockier, slower, heavier animal. This was a
    bruising animal. With a wrestler-like neck It has a narrow,
    slicing skull. While Tyrannosaurus chomped with round puncturing
    teeth, Carcharodontosaurus easily cut off pieces of flesh. These
    animals don't process the food. They bite, rip and swallow."
    
    As well as attacking plant-eating dinosaurs, they also attacked
    each other.  Dr Sereno said: "We have evidence of a puncture
    wound, just above the nose."
    
    The brain cavity of the skull is well-preserved. It is only half
    the volume of that known for T Rex, and only about one-fifteenth
    the size of a human brain.
    
    The second predator, discovered by Dr Gabrielle Lyon and recovered
    by the team, has been named Deltadromeus agilis, or "agile delta
    runner" for its extraordinary delicate, long limbs.
    
    The reconstructed skeleton is longer than 25ft. This fine-boned
    dinosaur attacked by chasing down its prey. Dr Sereno said:
    "Deltadromeus is the pursuit-type dinosaur."
    
    The remains of Carcharodontosaurus and Deltadromeus were found in
    the Kem Kem region of Morocco's Sahara, once a vast flood plain
    laced with rivers, edged by coniferous trees.
    
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    plc