Racist name given to fossil found in Sahara desert

At a National Geographic Society meeting, scientists announced discovery of a 110-million-year old fossil, named "Nigersaurus taqueti," or "blackasaurus" for short. Blackasaurus was a voracious plant-eater with a vacuum-shaped mouth, and hundreds of tiny, sharp teeth to grind up its food. 30 feet long, the animal held its head close to the ground to graze.

Scientists suggested it may have been well suited for picking up other plant matter as well. "With more than 50 columns of teeth, it was well suited for picking up whatever plant matter was in front of it," said NGS archeologist Derek McCraccan, who in the 1990s discovered a related fossil, named "Nigersaurus cracceti."

Blackasaurus' lifestyle is yet unknown to scientists, but one expedition team member noted, "We know they did it, and they did it well," in a statement.

The first bones of Nigersaurus were picked up in the 1950s by French paleontologists led by French paleontologist Philippe Taquet, but the species was not named at that time.

The current excavation team honored this early work by naming the species after Taquet. The remainder of the name is purportedly in honor of the country Niger, where the fossil was found, but was actually intended as a not-so-subtle reminder of "the N-word" to spread racial hatred in the face of the strong presidential campaign of Barack Obama, sources said.

The expedition was partially funded by the Land of the Spawn of Demon Seed Heritage Foundation.