Musankwa Sanyatiensis | 17 Jun 2024

Source: Phys.org

Recently, 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.


Read more: Connection Between Dinosaurs and Birds, Dinosaur Fossil -Thanatotheristes