Skeleton of Africa's oldest known dinosaur from 230 mn years ago discovered in Zimbabwe

An international team of paleontologists has uncovered the remains of Africa’s oldest dinosaur, suspected to have lived more than 230 million years ago. The remains of Mbiresaurus raathi, found in Zimbabwe, is believed to be 6-feet-tall with a long tail. The dinosaur is estimated to weigh between 20 to 65 pounds. 

According to the release by Virginia Tech, the skeleton of a dinosaur was first discovered by a graduate student in the Virginia Tech Department of Geosciences and other palaeontologists during two digs in 2017 and 2019. The paleontologists have stated that remains of sauropodomorph, a long-necked dinosaur were found in northern Zimbabwe. The findings have revealed that the Mbiresaurus raathi stood on two legs and its head was small like other dinosaur species. Furthermore, the dinosaur had small, triangle-shaped teeth which scientists believe was "herbivore or potentially omnivore." 

Discovery expected to reveal more details regarding early dinosaurs: Munyikwa

Darlington Munyikwa, deputy director of National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, who was part of the expeditions, told BBC News that the fossils from the era which had “ended more than 200 million years ago had been unearthed in South Africa, India and now Zimbabwe.” According to Munyikwa, the discovery is expected to reveal more details regarding the evolution and migration of early dinosaurs.

Meanwhile, Christopher Griffin, who holds a PhD in geosciences from the Virginia Tech College of Science, in the news release by Virginia Tech said, “The discovery of Mbiresaurus raathi fills in a critical geographic gap in the fossil record of the oldest dinosaurs."

Griffin underscored that the discovery indicates the power of "hypothesis-driven field work for testing predictions about the ancient past." He added, “These are Africa’s oldest-known definitive dinosaurs, roughly equivalent in age to the oldest dinosaurs found anywhere in the world."

Griffin also asserted that the oldest known dinosaurs from around 230 million years ago are "extremely rare." According to him, the remains of dinosaurs have been found in a few places around the world, particularly in northern Argentina, India, and southern Brazil. He stated that they never expected to discover "such a complete and well-preserved dinosaur skeleton."

Image: Pixabay/Representative