WEBVTT - Can a New Egyptian Dinosaur Fossil Explain How the Continents Formed?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>lorn bog Obama here. The finding of a new dinosaur

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<v Speaker 1>species is always cause for celebration. To dino enthusiasts, memorizing

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<v Speaker 1>new names is a favorite pastime. Just ask some parents,

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<v Speaker 1>including nine Sorry about that phase, guys. And on an

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<v Speaker 1>academic level, recently discovered species can help us better understand

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<v Speaker 1>the story of dinosaurian evolution. Occasionally, they provide clues to

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<v Speaker 1>other mysteries as well. On januaryeen, the scientific journal Nature

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<v Speaker 1>published a study announcing that the remains of a previously

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<v Speaker 1>unknown dinosaur had been found in Egypt, long necked herbivore.

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<v Speaker 1>The beast has been dubbed Mansurasaurus Shahine. Size Wise, it

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't too impressive, but the discovery still has a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of scientists very excited. That's because, by virtue of its

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<v Speaker 1>age and anatomy, Mansursaurus might settle a debate about where

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<v Speaker 1>the African continent was located on Earth when the non

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<v Speaker 1>avian dinosaurs died out. Alfred Wagner was a meteorologist who

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<v Speaker 1>in nine in fifteen made the case for a theory

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<v Speaker 1>he called continental drift. This is the idea that the

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<v Speaker 1>continents gradually move across Earth's surface as time goes by,

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<v Speaker 1>and he was right. We now know that, due to

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<v Speaker 1>plate tectonics, the continents are indeed moving along at a

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<v Speaker 1>steady pace, and a century is worth of research has

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<v Speaker 1>allowed geologists to piece together the travel histories of the

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<v Speaker 1>major land masses. For instance, scientists have figured out that

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<v Speaker 1>after having been separated for tens of millions of years,

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<v Speaker 1>South and North America were reconnected by the Central American

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<v Speaker 1>land Bridge around three point five million years ago. Still,

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<v Speaker 1>our knowledge does contain some gaps. Consider Africa. Roughly three

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<v Speaker 1>hundred million years ago, it was part of the super

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<v Speaker 1>continent Pangaea. This megaaland mass started to break apart about

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred million years later, but we don't know exactly

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<v Speaker 1>what Africa was doing during certain stages of this process.

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<v Speaker 1>The Cretaceous period lasted from a hundred and forty five

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<v Speaker 1>to sixty six million years ago. Famously, it ended with

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<v Speaker 1>a mass extinction that wiped out all dinosaurs excluding birds.

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<v Speaker 1>We've uncovered numerous African dinal fossils from the early Cretaceous period,

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<v Speaker 1>including bones that represent the weird fin backed carnivor Spinosaurus However,

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<v Speaker 1>late Cretaceous material from Africa is awfully scarce. One co

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<v Speaker 1>author of the Nature study is Ohio University paleontologist Patrick O'Connor.

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<v Speaker 1>He said via email, the Late Cretaceous fossil record is

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<v Speaker 1>quite robust in some parts of the world, like South America, Madagascar,

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<v Speaker 1>and North America, But by comparison, the Late Cretaceous fossil record,

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<v Speaker 1>and particularly that of the end of the Late Cretaceous

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<v Speaker 1>period eight two sixty six million years ago from continental

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<v Speaker 1>Africa is a virtual blank slate. That's a problem for

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<v Speaker 1>people who studied continental drift. Fossil evidence is critical when

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<v Speaker 1>it comes to theorizing about when, where, and how the

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<v Speaker 1>continents emerged or separated. If you find similar looking fossil

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<v Speaker 1>remains from the same geologic time on two separate continents,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a good chance that those land masses were linked

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<v Speaker 1>together at some point in the past. Historically, we haven't

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<v Speaker 1>been able to compare Africa's Late Cretaceous fossil record with

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<v Speaker 1>that of other continents. As O'Connor pointed out, they're simple.

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<v Speaker 1>Aren't many African fossils that date back to this time.

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<v Speaker 1>The information gap has sparked some debate. Without the Late

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<v Speaker 1>Cretaceous fossils to work with, paleontologists could only speculate about

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<v Speaker 1>whether Africa was still connected to South America or Eurasia

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<v Speaker 1>back then. Mansur Sourus offers a badly needed breakthrough. Its

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<v Speaker 1>remains were first spotted during a December expedition into western

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<v Speaker 1>Egypt Stahla Oasis. The campaign was spearheaded by Hashem Salem,

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<v Speaker 1>a paleontologist at Mansura University in Egypt's Nile Delta. We

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<v Speaker 1>spoke with study co author Eric Gorskak via email. He

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<v Speaker 1>said in early Feen the team came back and started

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<v Speaker 1>the excavation that would last the next three weeks. In total,

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen field jackets that's plaster coverings placed over and around fossils,

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<v Speaker 1>and many isolated bone fragments were collected. Named in honor

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<v Speaker 1>of Mansur University, Mansursaurus Shahine was a long necked dinosaur

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<v Speaker 1>or sapod. More specifically, it was a titanosaur, a group

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<v Speaker 1>of Cretaceous sauropods whose ranks included some of the biggest

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<v Speaker 1>animals to ever walk the Earth. One species, Argentinosaurus wink

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<v Speaker 1>A lensis, may have weighed over seventy seven tons or

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<v Speaker 1>seventy metric tons. Like many other titanosaurs, mens Oursaurus had

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<v Speaker 1>bony knobs embedded in its skin. However, unlike many of

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<v Speaker 1>its cousins, this creature was no true behemoth. A full

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<v Speaker 1>grown men's our Soaurus would have been around thirty three

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<v Speaker 1>feet that's ten meters long and weighed just five point

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<v Speaker 1>five tons or five metric tons. Because it was found

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<v Speaker 1>in late Cretaceous rock, mens our Soaurus is hugely important

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<v Speaker 1>knowing this salmonous. Team compared the animal's bones with those

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<v Speaker 1>of contemporary titanosaurs from South America and Eurasia. It turns

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<v Speaker 1>out that anatomically speaking, men's our soaurs bore a closer

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<v Speaker 1>resemblance to the Eurasian titanosaurs. In O'Connor's words, the finding

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<v Speaker 1>points to some geographical connection between Africa and Eurasia for

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<v Speaker 1>at least some point of the Latest Cretaceous. While the

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<v Speaker 1>existence of Man's our Soaurus does strongly indicate that large

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<v Speaker 1>animals like titanosaurs could travel from Eurasia to Africa back then,

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<v Speaker 1>O'Connor says scientists need more fossils to confirm this hypothesis. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>right now, it's impossible to say whether there was a

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<v Speaker 1>direct land bridge between the two continents. High sea levels

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<v Speaker 1>at the time flooded parts of Europe and northern Africa,

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<v Speaker 1>turning the region into a system of islands. So maybe

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<v Speaker 1>instead of walking from one continent to the other, soropods

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<v Speaker 1>like men's our soaurus made the journey via island hopping.

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<v Speaker 1>The timing and extent of islands and land bridges is

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<v Speaker 1>currently unknown, but scientists are on the case. O'Connor says

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<v Speaker 1>that Salam and his students have great ambitions for studying

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<v Speaker 1>other fossils from Africa's Late Cretaceous deposits. Furthermore, O'Connor himself has,

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<v Speaker 1>as he said, ongoing projects with other colleagues exploring similar

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<v Speaker 1>aged rocks in Tanzania, Madagascar, and Antarctica. There are many

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<v Speaker 1>more exciting discoveries on the horizon, and we can't wait

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<v Speaker 1>to read about them. Today's episode was written by Mark

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<v Speaker 1>Mancini and produced by Tyler Klang. For more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and lots of other dynamite topics, visit our home planet,

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<v Speaker 1>how Stuff Works dot com.