Surprising Out-Of-Place Duckbill Dinosaur Fossils Offer Evidence Dinosaurs Once Crossed Oceans

Cynthia McKanzie – MessageToEagle.com – Scientists have discovered the first fossils of a duckbill dinosaur in Africa. It’s a surprising out of place finding because duckbill dinosaurs evolved in North America, and eventually spread to South America, Asia, and Europe. However, Africa was an island continent in the Late Cretaceous completely isolated by water. It shouldn’t be possible for the duckbill dinosaur to reach Africa, but it did.

Obviously, this is evidence dinosaurs did cross the oceans, scientists say.

Duckbill dinosaurs evolved in North America, spreading to South America, Asia, Europe, and finally Africa. Credit: Raul Martin

The study, published in Cretaceous Research, reports the new dinosaur, Ajnabia odysseus, from rocks in Morocco dating to the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years ago.

Ajnabia was a member of the duckbill dinosaurs, diverse plant-eating dinosaurs that grew up to 15 meters long. But the new dinosaur was tiny compared to its kin—at just 3 meters long, it was as big as a pony. must have crossed the oceans, scientists suggest.

The discovery of the new fossil in a mine a few hours from Casablanca was “about the last thing in the world you would expect,” said Dr. Nicholas Longrich, of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, who led the study. Dr. Longrich said: “It was completely out of place, like finding a kangaroo in Scotland. Africa was completely isolated by water—so how did they get there?”

A study of Ajnabia’s distinctive teeth and jawbones shows it belonged to Lambeosaurinae, a subfamily of duckbills with elaborate bony head crests. Lambeosaurs evolved in North America before spreading to Asia and Europe, but have never been found in Africa before.

Reconstructing duckbill evolution, they found the lambeosaurs evolved in North America, then spread over a land bridge to Asia. From there, they colonized Europe, and finally Africa.

Because Africa was isolated by deep oceans at the time, duckbills must have crossed hundreds of kilometers of open water- rafting on debris, floating, or swimming—to colonize the continent. Duckbills were probably powerful swimmers—they had large tails and powerful legs, and are often found in river deposits and marine rocks, so they may have simply swum the distance.

Map showing the location of duckbill dinosaurs during the Late Cretaceous period. Credit: Dr Nick Longrich

“Sherlock Holmes said, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,” said Longrich. “It was impossible to walk to Africa. These dinosaurs evolved long after continental drift split the continents, and we have no evidence of land bridges. The geology tells us Africa was isolated by oceans. If so, the only way to get there is by water.”

In reference to this feat, the dinosaur is named “Ajnabia odysseus“. Ajnabi being Arabic for “foreigner”, and Odysseus referring to the Greek seafarer.

Ocean crossings are rare, improbable events, but have been observed in historic times. In one case, green iguanas traveled between Caribbean islands during a hurricane borne on debris. In another, a tortoise from Seychelles floated hundreds of kilometers across the Indian Ocean to wash up in Africa.

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“Over millions of years,” said Longrich, “Once-in-a-century events are likely to happen many times. Ocean crossings are needed to explain how lemurs and hippos got to Madagascar, or how monkeys and rodents crossed from Africa to South America.”

But the fact that duckbills and other dinosaur groups spread between continents, even with high sea levels, suggests dinosaurs traveled across oceans as well. “As far as I know, we’re the first to suggest ocean crossings for dinosaurs,” said Longrich.

Written by Cynthia McKanzie – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer