...continued

Velociraptor and Compsognathus of "Jurassic Park" fame belong to a group of small predatory dinosaurs often referred to as "raptors."  For dinosaur aficionados the list of precious raptors is long and includes the sickle-toed Deinonychus and the fleet-footed Troodon from Montana.  Recently named raptors include the feathered Sinornithosaurus and Microraptor from China. To date, raptors share one common characteristic--they all come from northern continents.  The fossil evidence for raptor-sized dinosaurs is terribly lopsided.  There is almost no information available from southern landmasses such as Africa.

As we continued to work to figure out how much of the raptor was preserved, we came across the tail of another, larger, predatory dinosaur less than a foot away. The bones of the smaller "raptor" were so delicate that we dared not expose them further in the field for fear of damaging them.  We dug around our new little southern "raptor," and took all the bones in a single jacket.   Doubtless a new species, the small predator will remain an exciting enigma until the jacket is opened and cleaned in the lab back at the University of Chicago.

With new crocs, and two new predators jacketed we are just halfway into the field season--and the outlines of the story of what life was like on Africa at the end of the dinosaur era are starting to take shape..

Paul C. Sereno