Wait! Wait! Is this for real? Madagascar? I believe half the people in this world would not know where Madagascar is and now you are tellin’ me there might be dinosaurs in this country? Let me research for a bit and then I will let you know. Yep, Dinosaurs Lived in Madagascar!
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Apparently, it turns out there are fossils of dinosaurs that lived only in this country and nowhere else surprisingly. I never would have guessed that the location for the hit animated film, Madagascar, would have dinosaurs long ago. To be honest, I never knew about the country before the film came out and I do like the Madagascar films, they are a good fun and I always liked Ben Stiller as an actor.
I am getting sidetracked again but in any case, yeah! There are dinosaurs in Madagascar and the Apple TV+ paleo-documentary, Prehistoric Planet, did have a Madagascar segment. Madagascar is unique because it shows how far dinosaurs are willing to go to inhabit an environment. Madagascar is an island country of Africa and this just goes to show how varied prehistoric life was in Africa millions of years ago. Without further ado, let’s check out what dinosaurs lived in Madagascar.
I have put together a list of all the non-avian dinosaurs discovered in Madagascar but not flying reptiles or marine reptiles. Please let me know if you would want them to be added in the list and I will gladly find them and put them in the list.
The List of Dinosaurs Lived in Madagascar:
- Archaeodontosaurus (Isalo III Formation, Middle Jurassic, 2005)
- Dahalokely (Ambolafotsy Formation, Late Cretaceous, 2013)
- Lapparentosaurus (Isalo III Formation, Middle Jurassic, 1986)
- Majungasaurus (Maevarano Formation, Late Cretaceous, 1955)
- Masiakasaurus (Maevarano Formation, Late Cretaceous, 2001)
- Narindasaurus (Isalo III Formation, Middle Jurassic, 2020)
- Rapetosaurus (Maevarano Formation, Late Cretaceous, 2001)
- Vahiny (Maevarano Formation, Late Cretaceous, 2014)
8 species!! A total of 8 species!!! 8 different kinds of dinosaurs have been found in an island that is only slightly bigger than France is very impressive. Island nations always has difficult terrain and the civilization is difficult to make it progress because of the transfer of goods and services happens at a slower pace and yet, this place somehow managed to discover so many dinosaur fossils.
I am probably sure that most of you would recognize at least 1 dinosaur from here and that would be the Majungasaurus. Truly an astonishing species of abelisaurid that put Madagascar on the paleontological map. I hope to see what more Madagascar can unearth from the depths of the island. Before you go, please make sure to check out the species profile for Majungasaurus and as always, see you again soon in the Prehistoric Pedia posts!!!
