75 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Remains Unearthed in the Western Desert

An international team, including Egyptian palaeontologist Dr. Hesham Sallam, have uncovered new evidence of a herb-eating dinosaur that lived in Egypt around 75 million years ago. The remains of the dinosaur, called Igai semkhu, were originally found by German scientists in 1977 and then kept in various German museums before finally being studied and published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The dinosaur belonged to the giant family of titanosaurs, with a length ranging from 10 to 15 metres. The discovery sheds light on the complex evolutionary history of dinosaurs in the North Africa and Middle East region.

The discovery was given the name Igai semkhu, which means 'lord of the oasis', which reflects how its remains were found in the Dakhla Oasis, and 'the forgotten' in the ancient Egyptian language, reflecting its long history of oblivion in the vaults of various German museums.