Name:
Angolatitan (Greek for "Angola giant"); prounced ang-OH-la-tie-tan
Habitat:
Deserts of Africa
Historical Period:
Late Cretaceous (90 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
Unknown
Diet:
Plants
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Long neck and tail; probably light armor
About Angolatitan:
Its name--Greek for "Angola giant"--pretty much sums up everything that's currently known about Angolatitan, the first dinosaur ever to be discovered in this war-torn African nation. Identified by the fossilized remains of its right forelimb, Angolatitan was clearly a type of titanosaur--the lightly armored, late Cretaceous descendants of the giant sauropods of the Jurassic period--and it seems to have lived in a parched desert habitat. Because the "type specimen" of Angolatitan was found in deposits that have also yielded the fossils of prehistoric sharks, it's speculated that this dinosaur met its doom when it blundered into shark-infested waters, though we'll probably never know for sure.
