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Published on
29.09.2018 at 08:21
by
APA News
A 12-tonne Jurassic dinosaur that once roamed the Free State Province in South Africa "would have shaken the ground beneath its massive feet," according to a team of scientists who unearthed the giant animal fossil In the region. International scientists have named the newly discovered creature, Ledumahadi mafube, a Sesotho language term meaning "a giant thunderclap at dawn".
Team leader Jonah Choiniere of South African University Wits and a paleontologist said Friday: "The name reflects the large size of the animal and the fact that its lineage originally appeared to sauropod dinosaurs. It honors both the recent and ancient heritage of southern Africa.
According to scientists, sauropods had long necks and tails, small heads and four thick legs, and examples such as brontosaurus are the largest animals that have ever lived on earth.
With twice the size of a modern African elephant, Ledumahadi mafube was the most living land animal nearly 200 million years ago. A scientific article on recently discovered species has been published in the journal Current Biology.
All sauropods ate plants and stood on all fours, but Choiniere stated that Ledumahadi had developed its giant size independently of the sauropods and that its forelegs had been more squat. This has led the scientific team to consider it as an evolutionary "experience" with a giant body size, he added.
"The first thing that struck me about this animal is the incredible sturdiness of the limb bones," said Brazilian author Blair McPhee.
"It was similar in size to the gigantic sauropod dinosaurs, but while the arms and legs of these animals are usually quite thin, the Ledumahadi are incredibly thick."
Another member of the team, Roger Benson from Oxford University in the UK, said the scientists had developed a new method, using measurements made from "arms" and "legs" , to show that Ledumahadi walked on all fours.
"Many giant dinosaurs walked on all fours, but their ancestors walked on two legs. Scientists want to know more about this evolutionary change, but surprisingly, no one has found a simple way to tell how each dinosaur worked – so far, "said Benson.
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