Paleontologists have discovered the oldest dinosaur skeleton in Africa. The unearthed dinosaur, known as Mbiresaurus raathi, has a 6 feet long neck and weighs 10 to 30 kg. The dinosaur’s name is in honour of the paleontologist Michael Raath, who published a paper on fossils and refers to Mbire, the northern region of Zimbabwe, where the fossil was found.
As per Christopher Griffin, a paleontologist, and his colleagues at Yale University, the species is said to be the oldest dinosaur to be found in Africa. It gives rise to dinosaurs like Diplodocus at its early stage of lineage.
From the skeleton found, only the dinosaur’s head and a few of its hands were uncovered.
“It fills in a significant geographic gap in the archaeological record of the earliest dinosaur and highlights the efficacy of hypothesis-driven fieldwork for verifying hypotheses about the ancient past”, Christopher Griffin, explained in the press release.
Like Mbiresaurus, researchers found some two-legged dinosaurs with a skull smaller than their legs. According to the study, the dinosaur’s short, jagged, triangle-shaped teeth indicated that it may have been a herbivore or carnivore.
