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The dinosaurs that lived more than 200 million years ago may have dominated the plains and meadows of prehistoric Earth, but it turns out that they still had considerable competition.
Scientists unveiled on Thursday the discovery of a gigantic, mammal-sized, elephant-sized mammalian reptile, which they said rubbed shoulders with large dinosaurs from the Triassic times, including the limbs. of the sauropod family such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus.
Polish and Swedish university researchers have stated that the 10 – ton creatures – a "cousin" remote from the current mammals – are questioning the idea that dinosaurs were the only major terrestrial animals in the world. the time when the Earth had one huge territory called Pangea.
They uncovered fossilized remains belonging to a species of dicynodon previously unknown, herbivores ranging in size from small burrowers to large grazers, and mostly without teeth.
All mammals, including humans, are derived from dicynodonts, despite their reptilian origins.
They managed to survive the mass extinction known as "The Great Death" about 250 million years ago, which killed up to 90% of the species on Earth.
Read also: Giant dinosaur bones urge archaeologists to rethink the triassic period
But it was thought that the dicynodonts were extinguished before the end of the Triassic, when the dinosaurs became the dominant creature.
The analysis of limb bones found in the Polish village of Lisowice shows that the creature – named Lisowicia bojani – lived about 210-205 million years ago – about 10 million years ago. late than the previous discoveries of dicynodontes.
"The discovery of Lisowicia changes our ideas about the last story of dicynodontes, mammals of the Triassic, it also raises many questions about what makes them so great and the dinosaurs so great," said Tomasz Sulej, of the lsl. Polish Academy of Sciences, who worked on the study.
"Such an important new species is a unique discovery in a lifetime."
The study, published in the journal Science, revealed that Lisowicia would have been 40% larger than any previously identified dicynodont.
"The dicynodonts have enjoyed incredible success in the Middle and Upper Triassic," said Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki of the University of Uppsala in Sweden.
"Lisowicia is extremely exciting because it is the subject of many of our classic ideas about triassic mammalian reptiles."
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