95 million-year-old Spinosaurus had a scimitar-shaped head crest and waded through the Sahara's rivers like a 'hell heron'

An illustration of a large dinosaur standing on its hindlegs with a large back sail and sharp spike on its head, with a bloody carcass below it. The animal stands on a glowing sandy riverbed with grass on either side of it.

Around 95 million years ago, a Spinosaurus dinosaur with a tall, blade-like crest on its head and a large sail on its back lived in what is now Niger, a new study finds.

The newfound species, which the researchers have named Spinosaurus mirabilis ("astonishing Spinosaurus" in Latin), lived far inland, in river country — which could be the key to settling a debate about whether this dinosaur and its relatives were swimmers, the team reported Thursday (Feb. 19) in the journal Science.