A fossil was recently discovered in South Africa of a massive species of dinosaur, weighing up to 26,000 pounds. It is awesome. Researchers who uncovered it are calling it Ledumahadi mafube, which, in the South African language Sesotho, means “a giant thunderclap at dawn.” Pretty hardcore.
Jonah Choiniere, paleontology professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, said, “The name reflects the great size of the animal as well as the fact that its lineage appeared at the origins of sauropod dinosaurs. It honors both the recent and ancient heritage of southern Africa.”
Everything about this is killer.
The excavation team noticed that Ledumahadi was a close relative of plant-eating dinosaurs like the brontosaurus. They discovered that the massive species was not alone in South Africa.
“There was a thriving dinosaur ecosystem here in South Africa, at the bottom of the world, featuring 12 ton giants like Ledumahadi, tiny carnivores like Megapnosaurus, the earliest mammals… and many others,” Choiniere shared.
Image credit: Artist, Viktor Radermacher, University of the Witwatersrand
