Dinosaurs, from four-legged reptiles

2010/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Eboluzioa

The University of Texas paleontologists have concluded that dinosaurs come from four-legged reptiles, studying fossils of a species very similar to dinosaurs.

This would change convictions about the origin of dinosaurs. In fact, most paleontologists considered the precursors of dinosaurs to be two-legged carnivores. On the contrary, they encounter the fossils of a four-legged herbivore.

In 2007, fossils of 14 individuals of this species were found in Tanzania. The study of these fossils reveals that Asilisaurus kongwe lived 240 million years ago, 25 million years before the first dinosaurs. He walked on four legs and, by the shape of the teeth, have deduced that he ate mainly grass.