A nine-metre-tall Turiasaurus skeletal specimen is seen during a promotional event for a dinosaur exhibition at a shopping mall in central Tokyo on 8 June 2015. [Getty]
168 million years ago, the giant footsteps of Turiasaurus dinosaurs echoed across what is now Morocco’s Middle Atlas Mountains, according to researchers who have uncovered fossilised teeth from the Middle Jurassic period.
Found in the El Mers III Formation, one of three geological formations that make up the El Mers Group in the Middle Atlas of Morocco, the discovery marks the oldest evidence of this enormous dinosaur group on the African mainland, confirms a study published in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica during this month.
“These teeth represent the first definitive Turiasaurian remains from Morocco, as well as the geologically oldest occurrence of Turiasauria from mainland Africa”, the study’s authors wrote.
Turiasaurians were long-necked herbivores that towered above many of their Jurassic peers, living outside the lineage that gave rise to the familiar giant sauropods. Until now, most evidence of these giants came from Europe.
The three teeth found in Morocco display the family’s signature heart-shaped profile.
Though they resemble Spain’s Turiasaurus, subtle differences hint at the possibility of a new species, or an early branch of the group.
The find adds to Morocco’s growing reputation as a Jurassic treasure trove.
From the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous, fossils uncovered in the country during the last years reveal a diverse prehistoric ecosystem.
In the Middle Atlas Mountains, researchers have unearthed Adratiklit boulahfa, Africa’s oldest stegosaurs, and Spicomellus afer, the continent’s first ankylosaur.
Further south, the Kem Kem Beds have yielded giants like Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, offering a glimpse into a predator-rich landscape 95 million years ago.
“The fossils shed light on how dinosaurs diversified following environmental changes at the end of the Early Jurassic”, the researchers explained.
The study was carried out by an international team from the Miami Museum of Science, the Natural History Museum in London, and Morocco’s Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fez.
“Middle Jurassic terrestrial faunas are globally poorly represented, making the fauna of the El Mers III Formation critical to understanding the origins of the famous Late Jurassic faunas,” the researchers conclude.
With each new fossil, Morocco cements its place on the prehistoric map.
The Turiasaur teeth not only stretch the timeline for these giants on the continent but also hint that Morocco may have been home to a Jurassic world wilder and more spectacular than anything Hollywood could imagine.