GoSouth

South African, Credible and Current

  • HOME
  • NEWS, FINANCE AND FEATURES
    • News & Opinion
    • Finance
    • Cape Independence
  • INTERESTING
  • NATURE, ANIMAL TALK
  • SCIENCE, TECH
  • LIFESTYLE, ART
  • HISTORY
    • Cape South Peninsula

New species of dinosaur found in Free State

A new species of dinosaur, roughly double the size of a large African elephant, has been discovered in the Free State. (Viktor Radermacher)
Image: Viktor Radermacher

Canny Maphanga, News24 – 27 September 2018

A new species of dinosaur, roughly double the size of a large African elephant, has been discovered in the Free State. 

“The plant-eating dinosaur, named Ledumahadi mafube, weighed 12 tonnes and stood about four metres high at the hips.

 Ledumahadi mafube was the largest land animal alive on Earth when it lived,” Wits University spokesperson Schalk Mouton said in a statement.

Ledumahadi is Sesotho for “a giant thunderclap at dawn”.

The research into the dinosaur was revealed on Thursday by Wits Professor Jonah Choiniere, Dr Jennifer Botha-Brink from the South African National Museum in Bloemfontein and Dr Emese Bordy from UCT.

The project also had a strong international component with the collaboration of Professor Roger BJ Benson of Oxford University and Dr Blair McPhee, currently living in Brazil.

‘Ancient heritage’

Choiniere, who lead the team, said the dinosaur’s name was reflective of the place in which it was found as well as its stature.

“The name reflects the great size of the animal as well as the fact that its lineage appeared at the origins of Sauropod dinosaurs,” said Choiniere.

“It honours both the recent and ancient heritage of southern Africa,” Choiniere added.

Scientists describe the tale told by the fossil as “fascinating”.

“The first thing that struck me about this animal is the incredible robustness of the limb bones,” said McPhee.

“It was of similar size to the gigantic Sauropod dinosaurs, but whereas the arms and legs of those animals are typically quite slender, Ledumahadi’s are incredibly thick. To me, this indicated that the path towards gigantism in Sauropodomorphs was far from straightforward, and that the way that these animals solved the usual problems of life, such as eating and moving, was much more dynamic within the group than previously thought,” McPhee added.

“Ledumahadi mafube is one of the closest relatives of Sauropod dinosaurs. Sauropods, weighing up to 60 tons, include well-known species like Brontosaurus,” Mouton said.

A new species of dinosaur, roughly double the size
(Wits University)

The latest discovery has revealed more about the Sauropods.  

“The team also showed that many earlier relatives of Sauropods stood on all fours, that this body posture evolved more than once, and that it appeared earlier than scientists previously thought,” Mouton added.

The researchers said the dinosaur lived in an area around Clarens.

“We can tell from the properties of the sedimentary rock layers in which the bone fossils are preserved that 200 million years ago, most of South Africa looked a lot more like the current region around Musina in the Limpopo province of South Africa, or South Africa’s central Karoo,” Bordy explained.

A new species of dinosaur, roughly double the size
Closely spaced growth rings showing decreased growth rate.

Science and Technology Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane’s view is that the discovery showcases the value of “palaeontology in South Africa to the world”.

“This is another example of South Africa taking the high road and making scientific breakthroughs of international significance on the basis of its geographic advantage, as it does in astronomy, marine and polar research, indigenous knowledge, and biodiversity,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

Related Posts

  • Four billion years of evolution in minutes

       TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty dispels some hardwired myths about evolution, encouraging us to…

  • Three new penguin species discovered in the Southern Ocean

    Jane Younger, Research Fellow, Department of Biology & Biochemistry, University of Bath - 8 November…

  • First fossil trails of baby sea turtles found in South Africa

    Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University and Martin Lockley,…

  • The 14th of June in History

    As I share a birthday with Donald Trump, Che Guevara and Harriet Beecher Stowe, I…

  • Four billion years of evolution in minutes

       TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty dispels some hardwired myths about evolution, encouraging us to…

Search this Website

Contact US

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Most Recent Posts

  • SA repo rate unchanged at 8.25%
     STATEMENT OF THE MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE Lesetja […]
  • “If Israel fails in Gaza, all of us in the West will be next” – from one who knows!
    TAKE TIME TO LISTEN TO THIS NOTEWORTHY SPEECH 23 […]
  • Democracy, a corrupt and inefficient form of government – Socrates
    Socrates believed that wisdom was parallel to […]
  • A Short History of Human Emotions
      In this fascinating TED talk, historian Tiffany […]
  • The bizarre and ecologically important hidden lives of mosquitoes
    In the process of looking for nectar, mosquitoes […]
  • Moths do the pollinator night shift – and they work harder than daytime insects
      Richard Elton Walton, Postdoctoral Research […]
  • Gregarious charming Pin-tailed Whydah
    The Pin-tailed Whydah, Vidua macroura, is a small […]
  • Why there was reluctance to confront Nazi Germany
    By Nicholas Lorimer of Daily Friend – 3 February […]
  • Baking your own Sourdough Bread
    Lyndal Collins, Research dietitian, Department of […]
  • AGOA: South Africa will need to tread carefully in relations with US and China
    Arno J. van Niekerk, Senior lecturer in Economics, […]
  • South Africa’s 2022 census: has Joburg stopped growing or is the data questionable?
    17 October 2023 South Africa’s census is a vital […]
  • Meteorite discovery: unusual finds by South African farmer add to space rock heritage
    Chondrites are the oldest rocks in our solar system, […]

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

GoSouth

Credible and Current

Receive the GSO Newsletter
by adding your email

We don’t spam!
Read our privacy policy for more.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

NUMBERS TO NOTE

Police: 10111
Childline: 0861 322 322
Child Welfare SA: 0861 424 453
Gender-Based Violence: 0800 428 428
Human Trafficking Hotline: 0800 222 777

November 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« Oct    

Copyright© 2023・Cookie Policy・Privacy Policy・Terms and Conditions