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A fossil of a new dinosaur species has been discovered in South Africa, and is said to be a relative of the brontosaurus that weighed 26,000 pounds, about double the size of a large African elephant.
According to researchers at University of Johannesburg, these fossils could well be the distant ancestors of the giant 60-ton sauropods (including the famous diplodocus).
The researchers have named it Ledumahadi mafube, which is Sesotho for “a giant thunderclap at dawn.” Sesotho is an official South African language indigenous to the part of the country where the dinosaur was found.
“The name reflects the great size of the animal as well as the fact that its lineage appeared at the origins of sauropod dinosaurs,” said Jonah Choiniere, study author and paleontology professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. “It honors both the recent and ancient heritage of southern Africa.”
How were the fossils found ?
Jonah Choiniere’s graduate student, Blair McPhee, discovered the bones of an unknown dinosaur in 2012.
Over years of excavation, the team uncovered the fossil of a fully-grown adult dinosaur, likely about 14 years old when it died.
“Ledumahadi was a close relative of sauropod dinosaurs, but the fossil shows that it evolved earlier, and independently, of sauropods.”
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This figure shows some of the preserved elements of the newly discovered dinosaur. Their study will allow scientists to better understand how quadruped dinosaurs appeared.
Sources: CNN
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