Pre-historic reptile found

Paris – Dinosaurs living more than 200 million years ago may have dominated the plains and grasslands of prehistoric Earth, but it turns out they still had some sizable competition.

Scientists yesterday unveiled the discovery of a gigantic mammal-like reptile the size of an elephant that they believe rubbed shoulders with large Triassic-era dinosaurs, including the relatives of sauropods such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus.

Researchers from Polish and Swedish universities said the 10ton creatures – a distant “cousin” to today’s mammals – challenge the idea that dinosaurs were the only large land animals around the time Earth had a single, enormous landmass known as Pangea.

They unearthed fossilised remains belonging to a previously unknown species of dicynodont, herbivores whose size ranged from small burrowers to large grazers, and who were mostly toothless.

All mammals, including humans, are descended from dicynodonts, despite their reptilian origins.

They managed to survive the mass extinction known as The Great Dying around 250 million years ago that killed up to 90 percent of species on Earth. –