Dakhla OasisMansouraEGYPTMediterranean SeaRed
SeaNile RiverLIBYASUDANCairoJanuary/February 2019^ DISCOVER^65
FROM TOP: COURTESY OF HESHAM SALLAM; ALISON MACKEY/DISCOVER; ANDREW MCAFEE/CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Discover asked Hesham Sallam, lead
author and founder and director of
the Mansoura University Vertebrate
Paleontology (MUVP) program,
to explain why Mansourasaurus is
bridging the paleontology world in
more ways than one.Q
What makes Mansourasaurus,
named for your university,
significant for our understanding
of dinosaur distribution
and diversity?A
Its sister group comes from
Europe. We thought Africa
was really totally isolated [during
this time], but having European
dinosaurs related to it says there
was a land bridge that allowed
dinosaurs to migrate back and forth,
between Europe and Africa. It’s the first
land animal to suggest this.Q
You’ve called Mansourasaurus “a new chapter in
Egyptian vertebrate paleontology.” Why?A
Nobody knows anything about dinosaurs in Egypt. But for
Mansourasaurus, all the media came to cover it. People
didn’t know what Egypt had in terms of its paleontological
heritage. It’s a big deal in our country. To have a paleontological
conversation in Egypt is a new thing.Q
MUVP is also a new thing for Egypt: the first
vertebrate paleontology program of its kind not just
in the country, but the region. You’ve noted that before
MUVP, there really weren’t any resources in Arabic for
interested students in the Middle East and North Africa.
How did it get started?A
I started the program in my mind in 2008 while eating
lunch at Stony Brook University. I finished my Ph.D. in 2010
and came back to Egypt, starting the new lab with just one table
— there was nothing in Egypt in terms of equipment. All of my
luggage when I returned home was full of equipment for the
lab. I would share in class that I had a dream to build an Egyptian
paleontology program. Two girls knocked on my office door and
said, “We need to talk. We’d like to share that dream with you.”
In my mind, this was not going to work. Paleontologists go out
in the field, they have to camp, but these girls had never been
outside their homes. But I said OK, and they proved me wrong.
Now they both have their master’s degrees and are working
on their Ph.D.s.Q
In addition to dinosaurs, MUVP has been active in
finding and publishing on a range of animals, from
primates to fish. What’s your team working on now?A
Every month we go somewhere in Egypt. Last month we
went to the Spinosaurus site [where German paleontologist
Ernst Stromer in 1912 found the largest predatory dinosaur
known]. What we found are really bizarre animals that even I
can’t explain. We know there were five dinosaurs found there
before, and this isn’t one of them. That means we
have something new, which is very exciting.Q
+A
Mansourasaurus bones
found so far include ribs
and vertebrae (purple),
limb bones (blue) and
parts of the skull (red).Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology program founder
and director Hesham Sallam in the field.