(Observer Network News) According to Agence France-Presse on September 1, an international team of paleontologists found the oldest dinosaur fossil in Africa to date in Zimbabwe, dating back 230 million years. In a recently published paper, the researchers noted that the fossil is very similar to some of the same age dinosaur fossils found in South America and India, suggesting that the earliest dinosaurs may have been concentrated in temperate regions at the southern tip of the pangaea.
Screenshot of the AFP report
Found in Zimbabwe is a dinosaur fossil called Mbiresaurus raathi, which is only about a meter tall, weighs about 30 kilograms, has a long tail and stands on two legs. This dinosaur may have been an omnivore that fed on plants , small animals , and insects , belonging to the suborder Sauropoda.
The "Mbire" in the name "Mbiresaurus raathi" is derived from the name of the place where the fossil was found, and "raathi" is taken from a paleontologist named Michael Raath, who was the first to discover dinosaur fossils in the area.
Hypothetical image of Raheem Biron from the Virginia Tech website in the United States
Expeditions from Zimbabwe, Zambia and the United States discovered the dinosaur skeleton in two excavations in 2017 and 2019. Members of the expedition team said that the fossil was fairly well preserved, with only parts of the skeleton of the forelimbs and skull missing.
"This is the oldest known dinosaur fossil in Africa, and it is about the same age as the oldest dinosaur fossils found around the world." Christopher Griffin, a researcher at Yale University in the United States, said, "They existed 230 million years ago, the Carney order of the Late Triassic. The fossil is extremely rare and has only been found in a few places, including northern Argentina, southern Brazil and India. ”
Griffin shows part of the Raheem birjun fossil from the American media
Based on the results of the fossil's research, Griffin and a number of paleontologists published a paper in the internationally renowned academic journal Nature on August 31. They point out that this group of dinosaur fossils from Zimbabwe is very similar to the contemporaneous dinosaur fossil groups unearthed in South America and India, indicating that similar vertebrates were once abundantly distributed in this latitude zone.
AFP pointed out that paleontologists speculate that Zimbabwe and South America are basically at the same latitude as during the Pangea era, which is why they chose to excavate dinosaur fossils in Zimbabwe.
Screenshot of a paper published in Nature by Griffin and other paleontologists
The paper notes that previous studies have found that greenhouse climates, pronounced seasonal variations, and higher atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations form strong arid and humid climate zones in the east and west of Pangea. Since there were few geographical barriers and continental boundaries that affected the spread of animals at the time, these climatic barriers may have been one of the reasons for the distribution of early dinosaurs on this "supercontinent."
Griffin and other scholars believe that dinosaurs may not have spread to other parts of pangea until these climatic barriers were gradually eased, and this "climate control" may have also affected the species of the earliest terrestrial fauna.
All dinosaur fossils found in Zimbabwe, including Raheem Birlong, have been preserved in the Zimbabwe Museum of Natural History, AFP said. Curator Michel Zondo said the discovery of the Raheem Bilon fossil was a surprise for Zimbabwe and the paleontological community as a whole, "its skeleton is basically intact and will be the perfect reference material for future excavations." ”
Darlington Munyikwa, deputy director of zimbabwe's National Museum and Monuments (NMMZ), who is also a member of the expedition, noted that dinosaur fossils from the Triassic era are very rare, and the discovery will help shed light on the evolution and migration of early dinosaurs. He revealed that there are still a number of sites to be explored in Zimbabwe, but this needs to be determined depending on the financial situation.
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