Science and Health

110-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton discovered in Tunisia

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-25 20:32

TUNIS -- The nearly intact skeleton fossil of a dinosaur believed to have lived about 110 million years ago was recently discovered in south Tunisia, the official press agency TAP reported Friday.

The fossil was found about 50 cm beneath the ground near the town of Tataouine, some 450 km south to the capital Tunis, by a team of researchers from Tunisia's national mining authority and Italy's Bologna University.

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According to an engineer working at the Tunisian mining authority, the dinosaur is 15 meters long.

The skeleton has been taken to the mining authority before being sent to Bologna for scientific examination. It is expected to return to the Memory of the Earth Museum in Tataouine later.

In 2010, fossils with large footprints of both herbivore and carnivore dinosaurs were found in the desert town of Chenini, which is near Tataouine.

The first discovery of dinosaur fossils in Tunisia dates back to 1955. The fossils are currently displayed at the Tataouine Memory of the Earth Museum.