Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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AUDIO DESCRIBED

Found in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Spicomellus is the world's oldest Ankylosaur and the first ever discovered in Africa. With morphology unlike any other animal, living or extinct, Spicomellus is one of the strangest dinosaurs ever discovered.

Join Museum scientist, Susannah Maidment, as we unearth these fossils and learn why their discovery is so important for Moroccan palaeontology.

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #Dinosaur #NewDiscovery
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00:00 Introduction
00:16 The first ankylosaur from Africa
01:00 Finding the fossil site
01:54 Preparing to dig for fossils
02:40 Piecing together an armoured dinosaur
03:23 The challenges of finding fossils
03:57 Incredible new fossil discoveries
04:28 Palaeontology in Morocco
06:26 A dinosaur unlike any other
07:21 What we've learned about Spicomellus