A new discovery that may change our thinking about the predecessors of the dinosaurs - a proto-dinosaur from the African Triassic. Asilosaurus kongwe, described in the new Nature, predates the dinosaurs by about 10 million years. They weighed about 50 pounds and reached 10 feet from head to tail. Counter to our prior picture of the proto-dinosaurs, they walked on four legs and were herbivores. A. kongwe belongs to a group called the sileasaurs, which are the closest known relatives to dinosaurs. They diverged from a common ancestor, and coexisted with dinosaurs for about 50 million years.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Almost dinosaur
A new discovery that may change our thinking about the predecessors of the dinosaurs - a proto-dinosaur from the African Triassic. Asilosaurus kongwe, described in the new Nature, predates the dinosaurs by about 10 million years. They weighed about 50 pounds and reached 10 feet from head to tail. Counter to our prior picture of the proto-dinosaurs, they walked on four legs and were herbivores. A. kongwe belongs to a group called the sileasaurs, which are the closest known relatives to dinosaurs. They diverged from a common ancestor, and coexisted with dinosaurs for about 50 million years.
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