National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Dino Fossil Outcry Disrupts Australia Water Plant Plans


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Small herbivorous dinosaurs dubbed Leaellynasaura amicagraphica roam along the water's edge in southeastern Australia in an artist's depiction.

The species lived about 115 million years ago when the continent was within the Antarctic Circle.

Plans to build a massive desalination plant to supply fresh water to drought-stricken Melbourne created a media outcry last week, because pipes for the plant will run though the fossil beds where L. amicagraphica and other ancient species have been unearthed.

Illustration courtesy Tom Rich