A Torrent Of Heavy Rains Uncovered The Remains Of One Of The Oldest Dinosaurs Ever Discovered
In southern Brazil, a torrent of heavy rains exposed the remains of one of the oldest dinosaurs ever discovered.
A team of paleontologists found the fossils next to a reservoir located in the municipality of São João do Polêsine.
The dinosaur was around 233 million years old and belonged to Herrerasauridae, a family of carnivorous dinosaurs from the Triassic period, which lasted from 252 million to 201 million years ago. At that time, all the continents were merged into a supercontinent known as Pangea.
The skeleton is almost completely preserved. It is possibly the second most complete Herrerasaurida skeleton ever found. Its discovery was quite a surprise to the paleontologists.
The team was led by Rodrigo Temp Müller from the Federal University of Santa Maria. It took four days for them to excavate the site.
They extracted a block of rock containing the skeleton with great care. It was then transported to a laboratory for further analysis.
Based on the fossils, the dinosaur likely measured about 8.2 feet in length, but the species may have grown even larger.
“It’s a carnivorous, bipedal animal, so it walked on its hind legs and probably had its hands free to handle prey,” said Müller.
“We can’t say it had reached its maximum size. Although he was [8.2 feet] long, some individuals in this group could reach five or six meters [16.5 to 19.5 feet].”
Petr Bonek – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
According to Müller, the newly discovered fossils will shed light on the evolutionary origin of the dinosaurs and help researchers better understand what the dinosaurs at the top of the food chain were like.
The 233-million-year-old Herrerasaurida skeleton is among the oldest in the world. One of the other oldest fossils is from a dinosaur called Nyasasaurus, which lived approximately 240 million years ago.
It isn’t the first time that Müller and his team have dug up dinosaur finds in the region. The site is part of the Quarta Colônia Geopark, which is known for being rich in fossils. Back in 2019, they discovered another meat-eating dinosaur from the Triassic period.
The Herrerasaurida fossils were uncovered after heavy rains sped up the natural erosion process in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The rain washed away layers of sediment that kept the remains buried for millions of years, bringing them closer to the surface.
During the team’s excavations, they encountered several bones, including a leg bone and a pelvic bone. Already, they showed signs of erosion from the recent rainfall.
Earlier this year, the Rio Grande do Sul experienced a record amount of rainfall, leading to floods that killed at least 182 people, per the Associated Press.
Now, the researchers are racing to recover the Herrerasaurida fossils before the rain can damage them further.
“If there’s a lot of rain, small materials are sometimes lost before we can get to them, so now we are rushing to rescue all the materials that have been uncovered,” said Müller.
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