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Although historians have been discussing the origin and spread of dinosaurs for many years, the most popular theory was that they appeared in the southern part of the ancient world of Pangea 200 million years ago, and spread to the north millions of years later. A new study significantly changes the discussion.
Paleontologists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison) announced the discovery of a new dinosaur that challenges the popular theory of dinosaur origins and spread. The location and age of the newly described fossils suggests that dinosaurs roamed northern Pangea millions of years earlier than previously thought. The results were detailed in January 8 learning published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
“We’re solving some of these issues, and we’re showing that the assumptions we’ve held for a long time — assumptions that were supported by the fragmented evidence we had — were wrong,” Dave said. Lovelace of the University of Wisconsin Geology Museum, who led the study, said in UW-Madison. words. “We now have evidence that dinosaurs were present in the northern hemisphere much earlier than we thought.”
Archaeologists discovered fossils that contradict the theory in modern Wyoming in 2013. Due to changes in the Earth’s planets, this region was near the equator 200 million years ago in Laurasia, the northern half of Pangea (the southern half is called Gondwana. ). Although the remains were fragmented, paleontologists were able to conclude that the fossils were from a new type of dinosaur that they named. Ahvaytum bahndooivechewhich was probably the first sauropod relative. Ahvaytumhowever, it looked very different from wild animals with long necks.
“It was as big as a chicken but it had a really long tail,” said Lovelace. “We think of dinosaurs as giant behemoths, but they didn’t start out that way.” The adult specimen was over a foot (30.5 cm) long and about three meters (91.4 cm).
However, the most alarming thing is the age of the fossils. Lovelace and his colleagues used radioisotopic dating (a method of determining the age of things by measuring radioactive decay) to determine the rocks they found. Ahvaytum the fossils—and therefore the fossils—were about 230 million years old. This makes it Ahvaytum the oldest known Laurasian dinosaur, and about the same age as the oldest Gondwanan dinosaurs, according to the study. Dinosaurs first appeared in the Triassic period, about 230 million years ago. This era, which lasted about 252 to 201 million years ago, saw the rise of the oldest dinos, before they became dominant in the Jurassic period.
“We have this fossil, the oldest dinosaur in the world — it’s the oldest dinosaur in North America,” Lovelace added. The fact that the oldest known Laurasian dinosaur is as old as the oldest known Gondwanan dinosaurs refutes the theory that dinosaurs originated in the south of the old continent and spread north only millions of years later.
The location of the discovery is within the ancestral lands of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. As a result, the researchers collaborated with people of all races in their work, and included Eastern Shoshone elders and middle school students in choosing a new dinosaur name. Ahvaytum bandooiveche means “old dinosaur” in the Eastern Shoshone language.
The area also found other things. The team discovered dinosaur-like fossils in ancient rocks, suggesting that dinosaurs or dinosaur-related creatures called Laurasia home even earlier. Ahvaytum. Archaeologists also found fossils of a which has just been explainedwhich was also mentioned in the Eastern Shoshone language.
In a long-standing challenge to how dinosaurs spread across Pangea, the discovery of giant chickens. Ahvaytum finally providing a clear picture of the creatures that walked the Earth – and – millions of years before us.
