Bizarre Cow-Sized Reptile Once Roamed Africa
- 11 years ago
A new genus of plant eating reptiles that were the size of a cow and had knobby growths on their heads has been identified using fossil records.
Much of the ancient world remains a mystery to us.
A new genus of plant eating reptiles that were the size of a cow and had knobby growths on their heads has been identified using fossil records.
The fossils were found in northern Niger. And the reptile is believed to have lived in the desert some 260 million years ago, when the continents were connected in one landmass supercontinent known as Pangaea.
The knobs or horns of the Bunostegos reptile from the pareiasaur family might have been like the skin covered horns of giraffes.
Scientists are not sure about the evolutionary purpose of the knobs, but one researcher offered her theory.
Doctor Linda Tsuji from the University of Washington, Seattle said: “The knobs vary quite markedly in size and shape between different species, with some species lacking prominent knobs entirely, so I think that they were purely ornamental. The most probable use was for between species or within species recognition.”
Much of the ancient world remains a mystery to us.
A new genus of plant eating reptiles that were the size of a cow and had knobby growths on their heads has been identified using fossil records.
The fossils were found in northern Niger. And the reptile is believed to have lived in the desert some 260 million years ago, when the continents were connected in one landmass supercontinent known as Pangaea.
The knobs or horns of the Bunostegos reptile from the pareiasaur family might have been like the skin covered horns of giraffes.
Scientists are not sure about the evolutionary purpose of the knobs, but one researcher offered her theory.
Doctor Linda Tsuji from the University of Washington, Seattle said: “The knobs vary quite markedly in size and shape between different species, with some species lacking prominent knobs entirely, so I think that they were purely ornamental. The most probable use was for between species or within species recognition.”