Around 100 million years ago, an area of the Sahara, which is now known as south-eastern Morocco, was home to a fearsome multitude of ravenous predators. The place was so bloodcurdling that scientists have decided to name it "most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth."
A team of scientists reviewed a collection of fossils found in ancient rock formations known as the Kem Kem group. It is located near the border between Morocco and Algeria on the northwestern edge of the Sahara Desert. It was in 1996 when Professor Paul Sereno from the University of Chicago and his colleagues introduced the informal term "Kem Kem beds" for this fossil-rich ledge.
Researchers claim that the fossils, which are now put on display in museum collections around the world, include enormous dinosaurs, crocodilians, pterosaurs, turtles, fish, invertebrates, and plants.
According to the study, most fossils in the Kem Kem region are discovered as confined fragmentary pieces weathered from sandstones. Only four partial dinosaur skeletons or skulls have been reclaimed.
Nizar Ibrahim, the lead author of the study, said that the Kem Kem group provides a peek into Africa's Age of Dinosaurs. Among the fossils found are three of the largest predatory dinosaurs ever known to men. These included Carcharodontosaurus, which measured over 40 feet, and Deltadromeus, a group of enormous raptors with long, slender back limbs.
Dr. Ibrahim said that the area was debatably the most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth, a place where a human time-traveler would not survive. The study was published in the journal ZooKeys.
Not Always an Empty Desert
While the region is now a dry, barren region, it wasn't quite so 100 million years ago. Researchers say that when the creatures lived in the area, it was home to a comprehensive river system with a tropical climate and many aquatic and terrestrial animals. Many of these beasts likely relied on the plentiful fish that filled the waters of the river system.
David Martill, a co-author of the study, said that the place was replete with gigantic fish, such as coelacanths and lungfish. He also said that an enormous freshwater saw shark called the Onchopristis also lurked in its waters.
According to the researchers, no other modern terrestrial ecological community ruled by such large carnivores exists. The Kem Kem group consists of at least four types of large, predatory dinosaurs. Three of which are among the largest dinosaur predators ever recorded.
Additionally, scientists say that the humongous, bulky herbivores are not well-represented in the Kem Kem group. This plethora of predatory to herbivorous dinosaurs is known as Stromer's Riddle. It was named after the German paleontologist Ernst Stromer, who first discovered the wonder in the early 20th century.
According to the study, the Kem Kem assemblage is mostly governed by aquatic and semi-aquatic creatures. Martill said that most of the vertebrates mentioned lived chiefly within an aquatic ambiance, which meant that most of the groups in the fossil collection were predators making use of marine food resources.
