The largest dinosaur of the Jurassic era ever unearthed

If you ever searched the internet for the biggest dinosaur in history, the answer is unanimously the Argentinosaurus huinculensis. The giant was 130 feet long weighing near 100 tons.

However, dinosaurs as a species have evolved over time. As a result, paleontologists have divided the period of time into Jurassic periods. There are three Jurassic eras: the Triassic Era, the Jurassic Era and the Cretaceous Era.

The dinosaurs have changed shape and size during these three eras. It also means that each era had a titan dinosaur that was the largest of its time.

Ladumahadi – A giant Thunderclap at dawn

Researchers have recently discovered the fossil of a new dinosaur species in South Africa that could replace the current titan of the Jurassic era. The new dinosaur species is calling Ledumahadi mafube, who is Sesotho for "A giant thunderclap at dawn."

"His name reflects the large size of the animal as well as the fact that his lineage originally appeared in the sauropod dinosaurs.He honors both the ancient and recent heritage of southern Africa" said Jonah Choiniere, author of the study and professor of paleontology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

the Argentinosaurus huinculensis, the largest dinosaur species, lived at the end of the Cretaceous during 99.6 million years ago. the Ledumahadi mafube is dated 200 million years in history.

The discovery was made by researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Ledumahadi is believed to be the close relative of the Sauropod dinosaurs.

They are also herbivores in nature. The researchers are of the opinion that Ledumahadi is a transition dinosaur, going through the rhythms of evolution.

The reason for this derivation is that members of the Ledumahadi are thicker and more robust compared to his brothers, the sauropods.

The transition dinosaur of the Jurassic era

the Ledumahadi Blair McPhee discovered the bones of an unknown dinosaur. Some bones exceeded even the ground.

The researcher thinks the dinosaur was about 14 years old when he died.

"The first thing that struck me in this animal, it's the incredible strength of the bones of the limbs." Its size was similar to that of the gigantic sauropod dinosaurs, but if the arms and legs of these animals are usually very thin, those of Ledumahadi are incredibly thick. " Blair McPhee, the main author of the study, said.

When we compare sauropods with Ledumahadi, the first had columnar members. However, Ledumahadi had more of the previous members squatting.

During the first revision of the posture of the Ledumahadi according to their anatomy, the researchers were a bit confused, whether the titan walks on four limbs or on two legs. To decode this riddle, they took the data from various reptiles, dinosaurs and other animals and compared their walking habits to the size of their limbs.

This gave them enough tangible data to help them conclude that the Ledumahadi walked on all four legs.

The results of this research were published in the Current Biology newspaper.