{"id":206961,"date":"2026-02-26T10:20:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T21:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kiwikidsnews.co.nz\/?p=206961"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:20:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T21:20:27","slug":"giant-sahara-dinosaur-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwikidsnews.co.nz\/?p=206961","title":{"rendered":"Giant Sahara Dinosaur Found"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"28\" data-end=\"424\">Scientists have discovered a huge new species of fish-eating dinosaur in the Sahara Desert in Niger, West Africa, and they announced the find on <strong data-start=\"173\" data-end=\"193\">20 February 2026<\/strong>. The dinosaur has been named <strong data-start=\"223\" data-end=\"248\">Spinosaurus mirabilis<\/strong>, and experts say it lived nearly <strong data-start=\"282\" data-end=\"307\">100 million years ago<\/strong>. The fossils were found by an international research team led by the <strong data-start=\"377\" data-end=\"402\">University of Chicago<\/strong> in the United States.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"783\">Researchers were excited because this is the <strong data-start=\"471\" data-end=\"496\">first new spinosaurid<\/strong> dinosaur identified in more than <strong data-start=\"530\" data-end=\"543\">100 years<\/strong>. The fossil site sits in northern Niger, about <strong data-start=\"591\" data-end=\"604\">620 miles<\/strong> from the nearest sea, which suggests the dinosaur lived <strong data-start=\"661\" data-end=\"675\">far inland<\/strong>. Scientists think the area was once a <strong data-start=\"714\" data-end=\"749\">forested place with many rivers<\/strong>, not the dry desert we see today.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"785\" data-end=\"1162\">Because of the rivers, the team believes Spinosaurus mirabilis often went into the water to catch fish. They say it may have hunted a bit like modern <strong data-start=\"935\" data-end=\"945\">herons<\/strong>, which stand still and strike quickly. Professor Paul Sereno explained that the dinosaur could wade confidently into <strong data-start=\"1063\" data-end=\"1077\">two metres<\/strong> of water on its strong legs, but probably spent most of its time in shallower areas.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1164\" data-end=\"1479\">Spinosaurus mirabilis was enormous\u2014about <strong data-start=\"1205\" data-end=\"1223\">12 metres long<\/strong>, around the length of a bus. It may have weighed <strong data-start=\"1273\" data-end=\"1297\">five to seven tonnes<\/strong>, similar to a large African elephant. Scientists also think it had a <strong data-start=\"1367\" data-end=\"1387\">large head crest<\/strong> that might have been <strong data-start=\"1409\" data-end=\"1430\">brightly coloured<\/strong> and curved upward, perhaps to help it stand out.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1481\" data-end=\"1873\">Its mouth was built for slippery prey, with <strong data-start=\"1525\" data-end=\"1547\">interlocking teeth<\/strong> and a lower jaw that stuck out. This kind of fish-grabbing design is also seen in other ancient animals that ate fish, including some <strong data-start=\"1682\" data-end=\"1696\">pterosaurs<\/strong> and <strong data-start=\"1701\" data-end=\"1728\">semi-aquatic crocodiles<\/strong>. The team found fossils from <strong data-start=\"1758\" data-end=\"1775\">more than one<\/strong> Spinosaurus mirabilis, along with bones from other dinosaurs from about <strong data-start=\"1848\" data-end=\"1872\">95 million years ago<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1875\" data-end=\"2087\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Professor Sereno said the discovery was sudden and so astonishing that it made the team feel very emotional. For scientists, finds like this are like opening a new chapter in Earth\u2019s history\u2014one fossil at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists have discovered a huge new species of fish-eating dinosaur in the Sahara Desert in Niger, West Africa, and they announced the find on 20 February 2026. The dinosaur has been named Spinosaurus mirabilis, and experts say it lived nearly 100 million years ago. The fossils were found by an international research team led by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[63,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animals","category-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Giant Sahara Dinosaur Found - Kiwi Kids News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kiwikidsnews.co.nz\/?p=206961\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giant Sahara Dinosaur Found - Kiwi Kids News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scientists have discovered a huge new species of fish-eating dinosaur in the Sahara Desert in Niger, West Africa, and they announced the find on 20 February 2026. 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