Scientists say they have figured out where dinosaurs came from in remarkable breakthrough – Daily Express US
Although evidence of the earliest species of dinosaurs to live on Earth is nonexistent, new research may have found a way to model their characteristics.The oldest dinosaur fossils date back 230 million years from regions in Brazil, Argentina, and portions of Africa, though they do not represent the earliest dinosaurs.Archaeologists regularly pursue discoveries of fossils that can establish concrete links between the earliest dinosaurs and the later versions that evolved.Published in Current Biology, researchers have managed to use modeling to account for the vast gaps in time between discovered fossils.The study manages to reset scientific thinking about dinosaurs, removing the assumption that because dinosaur fossils have not been found in an area means that they did not exist there.“Dinosaurs are well studied but we still don’t really know where they came from. The fossil record has such large gaps that it can’t be taken at face value,” Joel Heath, the study’s author, wrote.The findings claim that the earliest dinosaurs lived in hot, dry areas similar to today’s deserts. No dinosaur fossils have been found in this area so far.These versions of dinosaurs were not the sky-scraper-like creatures that would go on to dominate the planet but rather a minor part of the larger ecosystem.The typical size of the earliest dinosaurs was that of a chicken or medium-sized dog. Several reptiles would carry traits that would be passed down to dinosaurs, like the ability to fly or walk on two legs.It was not until a massive volcano wiped out several of these reptiles that dinosaurs evolved, eventually leading to space for them to do so. They did, dominating for the next 100 million years.The relationship between reptiles and dinosaurs remains undiscovered. Still, the study’s authors claim that a third kind of dinosaur, referred to as the silesaurids, could be the missing link and explain the biological crossover between reptiles and dinosaurs.SEARCHCONNECT WITH USTHE-EXPRESS.COMWould you like to receive news notifications from The Express?
Source: https://www.the-express.com/news/science/161927/dinosaurs-origin-explained-new-study
