Paleontologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered: Ahvaytum bahndooiveche, In modern-day Wyoming. The discovery is monumental because it may indicate that dinosaurs inhabited the Northern Hemisphere millions of years earlier than previously thought. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society.
“With this fossil, we have the oldest equatorial dinosaur in the world. It’s also the oldest dinosaur in North America,” said Dave Lovelace, a research scientist at the University of Wisconsin Museum of Geology who led the study with graduate student Aaron Kufner., to press release.
where does it come from A. Banduybeche live?
Paleontologists generally believe that dinosaurs first evolved about 230 million years ago in Pangea, the southern part of the supercontinent. This region became known as Gondwana, and dinosaurs lived there for millions of years before moving out to northern Laurasia between 6 and 10 million years later.
However, the newly identified dinosaur remains A. Banduybeche; It dates back to about 230 million years ago, making it the oldest known Laurasian dinosaur discovered.
Read more: Complete the dinosaur timeline to extinction: How long did they roam the Earth?
types of dinosaurs
According to research, Researchers have discovered the first fossilized fragments. A. Banduybeche leg The remains were trapped in the Popo Agie Formation, and it took a team of years to identify them as a new dinosaur and calculate its age.
The team determined its estimated size and weight from the few bone fragments it found. no way. Banduybeche And they positively identified it as a dinosaur.
“It was basically the size of a chicken, but it had a really long tail,” Lovelace said in a press release. “We think of dinosaurs as giant behemoths, but they didn’t start out that way.”
no way. Banduybeche It would have grown to just over a foot tall and about 3 feet long. No skull has been found, but the team believes it may have been omnivorous, similar to other sauropod dinosaurs of its time. Other evidence found near the scene included: A. Banduybeche It probably lived during or shortly after a period of massive climate change known as the Carnian pluvial episode. This episode is associated with the period of dinosaur diversification.
The climate was likely warmer and wetter than the previously dry conditions.
“We are filling in this part of the story and showing that the ideas we had for a long time, supported by the fragments of evidence we had, were not entirely correct.” “We now have evidence showing that dinosaurs existed in the Northern Hemisphere much earlier than we thought,” Lovelace said in a press release.
denomination A. Banduybeche
When naming the oldest known Laurasian dinosaur, the research team decided to name it in the language of the Eastern Shoshone tribe, the cultural land where the fossil was discovered. member Eastern Shoshone TribeIncluding the elderly and children, they came up with a name that translates to “long-ago dinosaur” in the Shoshone language.
Members of the Shoshone tribe joined the UW-Madison research team on the excavation to help study authors better respect the land and gain valuable insight and knowledge from tribal members.
“The lasting relationship that has developed between Dr. Lovelace and his team, our school district, and our community is one of the most important results of the discovery and naming of: Ahvaytum bahndooiveche” Amanda LeClair-Diaz, co-author of the paper and a member of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes, said in a press release.
“The research process for communities in general, and Indigenous communities in particular, has been one-sided and researchers have not benefited sufficiently from the research,” LeClair-Diaz said in a press release. “The work we have done with Dr. Lovelace breaks this vicious cycle and creates opportunities for reciprocity in the research process.”
Learn more: Oldest known fossils of living organisms discovered that appear to be part reptile and part mammal
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Monica Cull, a graduate of UW-Whitewater, wrote for several organizations before coming to Discover Magazine, including those focused on bees and the natural world. Her current work also appears on Travel Blog and Common State Magazine. Her love of science stems from spending too much time watching PBS shows and binging Doctor Who with her mom as a child.
