Museum paleontologist featured on Discovery Channel: Dinosaur may have thrived in Jurassic North Carolina

March 17 , 2003
For Immediate Release
Contact: Karen Kemp (919) 733-7450, ext. 304

RALEIGH -- A pair of paleontologists recently discovered the fossil remains of a previously unknown dinosaur in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Dale Russell, senior curator of paleontology for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and a North Carolina State University professor, joined team leader Phillipe Taquet on the excavation of the 200-million-year-old animal. A documentary of their find airs on Discovery Channel March 22 at 6 p.m.

The as-yet-unnamed dinosaur was a small, primitive sauropod. People in the Carolinians should have a special interest in this particular discovery, according to Russell, because the dinosaur uncovered in the mountains of Morocco is likely the same animal that would have roamed the landscapes of North and South Carolina.

“This dinosaur lived in the Jurassic period, before the formation of the Atlantic Ocean separated the North American and African continents,” Russell said. “At that time, the land that is now the Carolinas joined the area we were excavating, and in all probability shared the same fauna, including dinosaurs.” Why, then, haven’t paleontologists found fossil evidence of this sauropod in the Carolinas? “We can’t get to it,” said Russell. The erosion of the Appalachians completely buried Jurassic sediments a mile beneath the coastal plain, he explained.

The documentary, titled “The Imprint of Dinosaurs,” originally was filmed for French television by Gedeon Programmes. It combines footage of the excavation with animations depicting the dinosaur’s lifestyle and environment. Russell and Taquet, a paleontologist with the Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, excavated the bones in 2002 and are co-authoring a paper to describe the species.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh, documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun., noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Visit the Museum on the web at www.naturalsciences.org. The Museum is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary.

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