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Scientists discover new dinosaur with bulldog-like face

Artists's impression of how the newly discovered dinosaur might have lookedImage source, Andrew McAfee/Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Image caption,

Artists's impression of how the newly discovered dinosaur might have looked

Scientists in Egypt have discovered a new dinosaur species which they believe lived around 98 million years ago.

Experts say the fossil of the new species belongs to the abelisaurid family - a huge meat-eating dinosaur with tiny hands.

What's more, palaeontologists believe this one had a squashed face, similar to that of a bulldog!

The fossil was discovered in the North African's country Western Desert.

What did experts find?

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

The fossil was discovered in the Bahariya Oasis region of Egypt's Sahara Desert

The well-preserved fossil of the dinosaur's vertebra - from its backbone - was first discovered in the Saharan desert in 2016.

Experts from the Mansoura University Vertebrate Palaeontology Centre (MUVP) in Egypt and the University of Ohio in America carried out research into the fossil.

They found that the fossil belongs to an abelisaurid, a family of theropod dinosaurs that walked on two legs.

Did you know?

The Cretaceous period was the third and final period of the Age of the Dinosaurs and ended with their extinction

Researchers say the dino would have had a bulldog-like squashed face as well as small teeth and tiny arms.

However, it was still a huge beast, at around six meters long!

It lived during the Cretaceous period and it's the first time that this species of dinosaur has been found in this region of the country.

The Egyptian-American team say that this specific dinosaur species is yet to be given a name.