Scientists have discovered Africa's oldest dinosaur in Zimbabwe, which lived 230 million years ago.
The one-meter-long Mabiri stork rathi ran on two legs and had a long neck.
Scientists say that it belonged to the sauropodomorph genus, which was a four-legged animal.
Its structure was discovered in the Zambezi Valley in 2017 and 2019.
Darlington Monikewa is Zimbabwe's Deputy Director of National Museums who was also part of the expedition.
"When we talk about early dinosaurs, fossils from the Triassic period are very rare," he told.
Fossils from this period, which ended 200 million years ago, have so far been found in South Africa, India, and Zimbabwe, he says.
According to him, this new discovery will provide information about the evolution of early dinosaurs and the process of migration from one area to another. It should be noted that this was the time when the earth was not divided into seven continents but used to be one big piece of land.
Zimbabwe has known about the presence of fossils in the same area for decades and Darlington Monikewa says 'if they get more funding, they will look for other places.'
Christopher Griffin said, "This proves that the dinosaurs were not widespread in the beginning, but that they and other animals of their time were confined to a specific environment in the south, which would be the area of what is now South Africa, India, and Latin America."
"It's definitely the oldest dinosaur ever discovered in Africa," Christopher said.
"The discovery is significant because it links to the lineage that gave rise to sauropod dinosaurs, including Diplodocus and Brontosaurus," paleontologist Anusuya Chinsamy Thorne at the University of Cape Town told the BBC.
"This tells us that when the dinosaurs were evolving, they were on different continents but they seem to have preferred warm humid environments rather than dry areas."
"We hope that there will be more discoveries from this area."
He said that efforts have been made to discover gas in this area. "Hopefully, if any fossils are found during any such effort, they will be handed over to museums so we don't lose them."
The nearly complete structure of the Mabiri Saras Rathi is currently housed in a museum in the southern city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It is believed to date from the Carnian stage of the Triassic period when Zimbabwe was part of the supercontinent Pangea.
Dinosaurs are thought to have adapted to the high latitudes where present-day Zimbabwe is located, which were both humid and lush.
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