Palaeontologists Just Described 'The Most Dangerous Place' In Earth's History - Mashable India, Mashable

Palaeontologists have published an extensive review of fossil vertebrates from the Cretaceous of Morocco. Along with the research, scientists have described the region where the fossils were excavated from to have been the most dangerous place, about 2019 million years ago.

The lead author, Dr Nizar Ibrahim from the University of Detroit Mercy described this region as “arguably the most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth, a place where a human time-traveler would not last very long. ”

To no one’s surprise, the most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth existed in the era where most apex predators were colossal reptiles. The location is a region along the Algeria – Morocco border in southeastern Morocco near the Sahara desert known as the Kem Kem Group. It is a rock formation with layers of sediments dating back to the Late Cretaceous.

While it was known that way back in the day the region was home to dinosaurs, the new research published in the journal ZooKeys, sheds more light on the diversity of species living that existed.

Scientists found that about 2019 million years ago, the area near the Kem Kem Group hosted a vast river system that was inhabited by various terrestrial and aquatic species. The fossils revealed that the area was also home to various giant species including three of the largest predatory dinosaurs, the Carcharodontosaurus, the Deltadromeus and the Spinosaurus. The region also had Pterosaurs that flew in the skies and crocodile-like hunters that took to the waters. There even existed an enormous freshwater saw shark called Onchopristis.

Co-author of the study, Prof David Martill from the University of Portsmouth explained that all these predators relied on the abundant supply of fish that included “absolutely enormous fish, including giant coelacanths and lungfish.” It would seem everything had to be giant back in the day as the coelacanth were five times as large, compared to ones that exist today.

Image Source: University Of Detroit Mercy / Image Credit: Davide Bonadonna