Artist's rendering of the dinosaur discovered in Egypt. A massive dinosaur discovered in the Egyptian desert may reopen a lost chapter in paleontology, scientists report today. Paleontologists greeted news of the revival of North African dinosaur hunting with great interest. Now a desert, the oasis' region was a mangrove swamp 94 million years ago, filled with shallow marshes, tree covered hillocks, and herds of Paralititans, all bordered by the vanished Tethys sea, says Smith. Most of them were destroyed during the World War II bombing of the city, losing the oasis finds to science.
Swamps are very productive regions for plant life however.
A year later, they spent three weeks amid sand storms digging out the fossil bones with dental picks. The fossils, mostly vertebrae and leg bones, are now in Philadelphia for preservation and analysis awaiting return to Egyptian antiquities officials. Support for the expedition came from Cosmos Productions, a scientific documentary company headed by Anne Druyan, Carl Sagan's widow. Smith's team plans to return to the oasis and has tentatively sighted several new dinosaur species in findings there, he says. The researchers believe many other dinosaurs lived in the swamp as well, as a broken tooth from a carnivore was found near the Paralititan.