Are these stegosaurus fossils the oldest ever discovered?
- Published
- comments
Some of the Adratiklit fossils
Scientists might have found the oldest stegosaurus bones in history.
The fossils were discovered in Morocco and have been studied by a team from London's Natural History Museum.
They named the new dinosaur Adratiklit boulahfa, which means 'mountain lizard' in Berber language.
It's thought Adratiklit walked the earth over 168 million years ago during the mid-Jurassic period, way before it was thought stegosauruses were actually around.
This discovery means that stegosauruses have been around a lot longer than scientists originally thought!
The Adratiklit is also the first kind of stegosaurus to be discovered in North Africa, but fossils of the species have been discovered all over the world.
The Natural History Museum is planning more archaeological digs in North Africa. It's hoping to make more discoveries of the same fossil, which should hopefully mean they'll get a better idea of what Adratiklit boulahfa once looked like.
- Published16 January 2018
- Published9 May 2019
- Published2 April 2019
