210-million-year-old dinosaur discovery reveals a lost world in Africa

A newly identified 210-million-year-old dinosaur from Zimbabwe is helping scientists uncover a surprisingly distinct prehistoric ecosystem. The discovery suggests that ancient climate differences may have separated dinosaur populations across southern Africa, leading to unique species that challenge previous assumptions about their evolution. 210-million-year-old dinosaur discovery reveals a lost world in Africa.

This diversity is driven by diverse habitats: harsh deserts, vast grasslands, dense forests, towering mountains, lush coastlines and teeming seas. It is also due to deep evolutionary roots, as many animal and plant groups originated here in the distant past. Paleontologists have been excavating this material for nearly two centuries.

Africa is most famous for spectacular hominid fossils that reveal our own ancestry. The continent has many fabulous fossil finds, including those of the most familiar extinct animals – dinosaurs. The first African dinosaur fossils to be noted scientifically hailed from the Eastern Cape, South Africa and were described in the 1850s.