Musankwa Sanyatiensis : New Dinosaur Species
Scientists have discovered fossils of a new dinosaur species, Musankwa sanyatiensis, along the shores of Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe.
- This herbivorous dinosaur weighed around 390 kg and lived in swampy areas during the Late Triassic period (about 210 million years ago).
- It is named after the houseboat used during the expeditions and the Sanyati River flowing into Lake Kariba.
- It is the first dinosaur named from the Mid-Zambezi Basin in over 50 years and only the 4th dinosaur species named from the country.
- Africa has a long history of dinosaur discoveries, with the first found in South Africa just 3 years after the term “dinosaur” was coined in 1842.
- Dinosaurs (a diverse group of reptiles) lived around 243 to 233 million years ago, and diversified into various forms during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
- They include birds, which evolved from theropods, and extinct non-avian dinosaurs.
