{"id":65667,"date":"2022-09-05T16:10:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T14:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe"},"modified":"2022-09-05T18:18:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T16:18:43","slug":"africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe","title":{"rendered":"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa\u2019s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roamed Zimbabwe 230 million years ago.<\/p>\n

The dinosaur was named Mbiresaurus raathi.<\/p>\n

Dr Christopher Griffin, of Yale University in the United States, said the collection of bones resembles those of dinosaur remains from South America and India. News Agencies cite him as saying:<\/p>\n

Mbiresaurus raathi fills in a critical geographic gap in the fossil record of the oldest dinosaurs.<\/p>\n

These are Africa\u2019s oldest-known definitive dinosaurs \u2013 roughly equivalent in age to the oldest dinosaurs found anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

The oldest known dinosaurs \u2013 from roughly 230 million years ago, the Carnian Stage of the Late Triassic period \u2013 are extremely rare and have been recovered from only a few places worldwide, mainly northern Argentina, southern Brazil and India\u2026<\/p>\n

When I found the femur (thighbone) of Mbiresaurus, I immediately recognised it as belonging to a dinosaur and I knew I was holding the oldest dinosaur ever found in Africa.<\/p>\n

When I kept digging and found the left hip bone right next to the left thigh bone, I had to stop and take a breath \u2013 I knew that a lot of the skeleton was probably there, still articulated together in life position.<\/p>\n

Mbiresaurus was about six feet long (nearly 2 metres) from nose to tail and weighed up to five stone (nearly 32 kgs). Its skeleton is mostly intact \u2013 missing only portions of the hand and skull.<\/p>\n

Co-author Professor Sterling Nesbitt, of Virginia Tech in the US, said:<\/p>\n

Early dinosaurs like Mbiresaurus raathi show the early evolution of dinosaurs is still being written with each new find and the rise of dinosaurs was far more complicated than previously predicted.<\/p>\n

Sauropods were plant-eaters that could reach 200 feet (nearly 61 m) in length and weighed up to 120 tonnes. They included kids\u2019 favourites Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus.<\/p>\n

i). Mbiresaurus had a relatively small head \u2013 like its famous descendants.<\/b>
\nii). It stood on two legs \u2013 not four.<\/b>
\niii). It sported small, serrated, triangle-shaped teeth \u2013 suggesting it was a herbivore or potentially omnivore.<\/b><\/p>\n

Dr Griffin said they never expected to find such a complete and well-preserved dinosaur skeleton.<\/p>\n

Michel Zondo, a curator at the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, said the discovery of the Mbiresaurus is an exciting and special find for Zimbabwe and the entire palaeontological field.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa\u2019s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roamed Zimbabwe 230 million years ago. The dinosaur was named Mbiresaurus raathi. Dr Christopher Griffin, of Yale University in the United States, said the collection of bones resembles those of dinosaur remains from South […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":65666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35,12,15],"tags":[1493,2189,11696,19],"class_list":["post-65667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","tag-mbiresaurus-raathi-africas-oldest-known-dinosaur","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nAfrica\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa\u2019s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roame ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa\u2019s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roame ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-05T14:10:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-05T16:18:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"518\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-05T14:10:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-05T16:18:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe\"},\"wordCount\":406,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zimbabwe\",\"Mbiresaurus raathi (Africa's oldest known dinosaur)\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe\",\"name\":\"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-05T14:10:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-05T16:18:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa\u2019s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roame ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg\",\"width\":1120,\"height\":518,\"caption\":\"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe - zimbabwe","description":"New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa\u2019s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roame ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe","og_description":"New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa\u2019s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roame ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2022-09-05T14:10:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-05T16:18:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1120,"height":518,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe","datePublished":"2022-09-05T14:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-05T16:18:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe"},"wordCount":406,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Zimbabwe","Mbiresaurus raathi (Africa's oldest known dinosaur)","Zimbabwe"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","policy","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe","name":"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-05T14:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-05T16:18:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa\u2019s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roame ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_7-63162149ed6c0.jpg","width":1120,"height":518,"caption":"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/africas-known-oldest-dinosaur-found-in-northern-zimbabwe#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Africa\u2019s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}