They may have left this earth millions of years ago, but an expat in Dubai is currently attempting to sell what he says is a dinosaur egg he dug up in the Sahara desert.

German national Ernst, 75, says he found the egg in the wastelands of the Libyan Sahara desert – somewhere between the towns of Zella and Hun. He says he picked up the prize possession in 1985 while working in power stations in North Africa.

“It’s not every day you find a dinosaur’s egg,” he said of the fossil – which he has kept safe and sound ever since.

But Ernst, now retired, is trying to punt the “eggshell part with petrified embryo” for Dhs34,000 on UAE website Dubizzle. Ernst said he would miss his prized possession – but wanted to sell it because of “financial reasons”.

On the site he gives the age of the item as “10 years plus”.

However, Dubai-based eight-year-old dinosaur expert Pritvik Sinhadc doubts whether it’s a dinosaur egg. Sinhadc is the world’s youngest author in paleontology – he published his first book, ‘When Dinosaurs Roamed The Earth’, aged seven.

The Dubai British School pupil, who has an IQ of 165, said in his opinion it was “a giant crocodile egg called Sarcosuchus”.

The extinct beast also went by the name of SuperCroc and was found in the Libyan Sahara desert, said Sinhadc.

It lived more than 100 million years ago – and could grow to 12m long. “Dinosaur eggs are oval,” the boy wonder told 7DAYS.

“Giant crocodile eggs are round.”

He also strongly disagreed with Ernst selling the egg, saying it belonged in a museum. “It should be used for knowledge, not profit,” he said.

Susan Evans, professor of Vertebrate Morphology and Palaeontology at University College London, said: “To my knowledge, there are no known dinosaur egg sites in Libya.”

She added: “Rounded eggs are more commonly associated with turtles.”

duncan.hare@7days.ae

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