NEW DINOSAUR DISCOVERED

NEARLY 200 million years ago, a planteating dinosaur weighing 12 tons and standing four metres high, at the hip, roamed the Earth along what is now the Free State.

Today, millions of years later, its remains have been discovered.

The Ledumahadi Mafube dinosaur, which is Sesotho for “a giant thunderclap at dawn”, was found by an international team of scientists from UCT, Wits University, Oxford University and the South African National Museum.

By analysing the fossil’ s bone tissue throughosteo histological analysis, Jennifer Botha-Brink from the South African National Museum in Bloemfontein established the animal’s age. “We can tell by looking at the fossilised bone microstructure that the animal grew rapidly to adulthood.”

The dinosaur was roughly double the size of a large African elephant and the largest land animal alive on earth 200 million years ago.

Science and Technology Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said: “Not only does our country hold the Cradle of Humankind, but we also have fossils that help us understand the rise of the gigantic dinosaurs.

“This is another example of South Africa taking the high road and making scientific breakthroughs of international significance on the basis of its geographic advantage.”

Paleontologists said Ledumahadi Mafube was closely related to other gigantic dinosaurs from Argentina that lived at a similar time, which reinforces the notion that the supercontinent of Pangaea was still assembled in the Early Jurassic period.

Ledumahadi is one of the closest relatives of Sauropod dinosaurs. Sauropods, weighing up to 60 tons, include well-known species such as Brontosaurus.

All Sauropods ate plants and stood on four legs, with a posture like modern elephants. |