Sauropod skeletons found in Saraha

The discovery of more than 20 tonnes of dinosaur remains in the Sahara desert has exposed a remarkable survivor of a line of giant plant-eating sauropod.

A team lead by Paul Sereno, a palaeontologist at the University of Chicago, has found many skeletons of a previously unknown dinosaur that grew up to 21m in length. It appears to have escaped extinction in Africa after the break-up of the continents while its relatives elsewhere were superseded by other species.

The dinosaur, called Jobaria tiguidensis, would have dominated its range about 135 million years ago. It is described in the latest edition of the journal Science.