A Brand-New Dinosaur Just Walked Out of a Zimbabwe Lake

Professor Pip was very carefully NOT stepping on a rock.

Jun and Sofia leaned in closer, holding their breath. In front of them, poking up out of the sand along the lakeshore, was something that looked exactly like a long, curved, chalky bone.

Pip pulled his soft fossil brush from his coat pocket and began to whisk sand away in the tiniest, gentlest strokes. His magnifying glass hung around his neck. His tail was completely still, which was very unusual for Pip.

"Now," he whispered, "does anybody remember how a bone can turn into a rock?"

Sofia raised a finger. "Um. Time?"

"Excellent start," Pip whispered back. "Millions of years ago, an animal died right around here. Mud and sand slowly covered the bones. Then water dripped through, carrying tiny minerals — bits of rock so small you cannot see them. The minerals seeped into the bones and hardened, replacing them piece by piece. So the bone becomes a rock in the exact shape of the bone. That is fossilization."

"Rock-that-remembers," Jun whispered. His eyes were wide.

Pip beamed. "Curiouser and curiouser, Jun — I like that! Rock that remembers." He kept brushing, and slowly, slowly, more of the shape appeared. "This one came from a real place — Lake Kariba, in a country called Zimbabwe. A scientist named Paul was walking along the shore, and there it was, just… peeking out."

"An accident?" said Sofia.

"A very good accident. Sometimes the wind and rain do the digging for us. When his team took a proper look, they realized this creature had never been named before. So they called it Musango matusadonaensis."

Jun tried to say it and giggled halfway through.

Pip laughed too. "This one was little — about the size of a large pony. But her cousins, over millions of years, grew and grew and grew, until they became the giant long-necked dinosaurs — the ones as tall as houses."

"So she was a great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma of a giant?" said Sofia.

"Exactly right! And she lived when the very first dinosaurs were just spreading around the world. Places like Zimbabwe are FULL of fossils that nobody has looked for yet. Sometimes finding a new dinosaur just means being the first person to walk down the right shore." He looked up at Jun and Sofia and gently placed a tiny brush into each of their paws — er, hands.

"Now — very slowly. You go next."