Scientists in Zimbabwe announced the discovery of the remains of the oldest dinosaur in Africa, which roamed the Earth about 230 million years ago, France Press reported, citing a publication in the journal "Nature". 

Named Mbiresaurus raathi, the dinosaur was only about a meter tall, had a long tail and weighed up to 30 kilograms, according to the international team of paleontologists who made the discovery.

"It ran on two legs and had a relatively small head," said Christopher Griffin, the Yale University researcher who discovered the first bone, as quoted by BTA.

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According to the scientist, the ancient creature was probably omnivorous and fed on plants, small animals and insects. 

The dinosaur belonged to the sauropodomorph species, the same lineage that would later include the giant, long-necked dinosaurs, Griffin explains. 

The skeleton was discovered during two expeditions in 2017 and 2019 by a team of researchers from Zimbabwe, Zambia and the United States.

"I dug up the entire femur and that's when I knew it was a dinosaur and that I had the oldest known dinosaur fossil in Africa," Griffin said.

Dinosaur remains from the same era have previously only been found in South America and India.

Paleontologists chose Zimbabwe for the dig after they calculated that when all the continents were connected in a common landmass known as Pangea, it was at about the same latitude as earlier discoveries made in modern South America.

"Mbiresaurus raathi is strikingly similar to some dinosaurs of the same era found in Brazil and Argentina. This confirms the fact that South America and Africa were part of a connected landmass," says Max Langer of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. 

The dinosaur is named after the Mbire district in northeastern Zimbabwe, where the skeleton was found, and for paleontologist Michael Raat, who first reported fossils at the site.

Other specimens were found in this area and are kept at the Zimbabwe Museum of Natural History in the country's second largest city, Bulawayo. 

"The discovery of Mbiresaurus is exciting and special for Zimbabwe and the entire paleontological field," said museum curator Michel Zondo.

"The fact that the skeleton of Mbiresaurus is almost complete makes it an ideal reference material for other discoveries," he added.

Zimbabwe

dinosaur