Paleontologists discover fossils of Africa’s oldest dinosaur in Zimbabwe

A new dinosaur species discovered in Zimbabwe is the oldest found in Africa to date, according to a statement from the research team sent to Efe on Thursday.

dinosaurknown by its scientific name “Mbiresaurus raathi”, was found after excavations began in 2017 during an expedition to the remote northern region of Mbire, in the Zambezi Valley of the African country.

The name refers to Mbira, the area where the creature’s remains were found, and pays homage to paleontologist Michael Raat, who first published studies of fossils in the area.

“These dinosaurs oldest known final Africawhich roughly corresponds to the age of the oldest dinosaurs found anywhere in the world, ”said a team of scientists led by American scientist Christopher Griffin from Yale University.

dinosaurwhose skeleton is almost 90 percent intact, is a species of sauropodomorph that stood on two legs, reached a height of 1 to 1.5 meters, had a long neck and a small head.

“The only important bones missing are part of the arm and parts of the skull,” the researchers explained.

lived 230 million years ago

dinosaur lived in the Upper Triassic, about 230 million years ago.

At that time, all the world’s continents came together to form Pangea, a supercontinent that later began to fragment into landmasses separated by oceans.

According to scientists, Zimbabwe then corresponded to northern Argentina, southern Brazil and India.

Along with a new skeleton dinosaurThe research team found other fossils that included ancient reptiles known as rhynchosaurs and the earliest mammalian and crocodile ancestors known as cynodonts and ethosaurs, respectively.

These remains are very similar to fossils from the same period found in deposits in Argentina, Brazil and India.

The research team, whose results were published in the scientific journal Nature, hope to find more fossils in the Mbire area.

“A significant number of fossil sites have been discovered, and further research will be carried out,” the scientists emphasized.

Anusuya Chinsami-Turan, a paleontologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa who is not involved in the study, said the discovery dinosaur This was good news for Africa.

“I suppose that Africa it has many more dinosaurs to be discovered as more paleontologists start looking for them,” Chinsami-Turan told Efe.

The Mbire area covers an area where the Australian company Invictus will conduct significant oil and gas exploration activities.

Chinsami-Turan said mining can sometimes help discover new mineral deposits, although he hopes precautions have been taken to protect the area’s prehistoric riches.

“I sincerely hope that environmental and paleontological impact assessments have been carried out and that there are strong agreements in place to ensure that the ecology is protected and that any fossils found are properly excavated and taken to the museum for safety and study,” the minister added. paleontologist. .

(As reported by EFE)

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