Multinational team unearths 180 million-year old dinosaur
Morocco, Local, 9/23/2003

A multinational geology team has unearthed a 180 million-old dinosaur in the high Atlas, near Ouarzazate (southern Morocco), unveiling an important part on the ground eco-systems that lived on earth before north America was separated from Africa.

The new sauropod dinosaur, named "Tazoudarous Naimi," was unearthed by a joint mission of Moroccan, French, Swiss and US archeologists, as part of a program called "DinoAtlas."

The newly-discovered species used to live in plains and grazed on luxuriant vegetation that grows in the fertile volcanic soil.

The continental fossil layers dating back to this age, abundant in Morocco, are inaccessible in north America because they are buried under more recent large sediments layers.

Moroccan minister of energy and mining, Ahmed Boutaleb, who held a press conference, in the presence of the archeologists, to announce this major discovery said a museum on the site for visitors to view the region's rich archeology items will be opened. The minister, whose department also comprises geological services, said the museum is also meant to preserve and develop this geological legacy.

Previous Stories:
  100,000 year old human skull discovered near Rabat   (10/24/2001)
  Morocco, memory of the earth exhibition opens in Paris   (10/14/1999)
  Morocco's Atlas giant exhibited in Paris   (10/12/1999)

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