A NEW species of giant dinosaur which roamed southern Africa 70 million years ago has been unearthed in Tanzania.
The five-ton long-necked herbivore lived in the Cretaceous period when Madagascar and Antarctica split off from southern Africa followed by the gradual ‘unzipping’ of South America.
Similar skeletons have been found worldwid but are best known from South America. Fossils in this group are rare in Africa. The new dinosaur is called Shingopana songwensis’ derived from the Swahili term ‘shingopana’ (wide neck) and the location of the fossils in the Songwe region of the Great Rift Valley in south-western Tanzania.
It was about 8m long. “There are anatomical features present only in Shingopana and in several South American titanosaurs” said Eric Gorscaké a US palaeontologist who reported the find in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
“Shingopana had siblings in South America whereas other African titanosaurs were only distant cousins.” Judy Skogé of the US National Science Foundation said: “This discovery suggests that the fauna of northern and southern Africa were very different in the Cretaceous period.
At that time southern Africa dinosaurs were more closely related to those in South America and were more widespread than we knew.” Paper co-author Eric Roberts of James Cook University in Australiaé said the Shingopana bones were damaged by the borings of ancient insects shortly after death.
“The presence of bone-borings provides a CSI-like opportunity to study the skeleton and reconstruct the timing of death and burial and offers rare evidence of ancient insects and complex food webs during the age of the dinosaurs” he said.
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Published by Mbilinyi-Wildlife
Conservation has always been a major part of my life. Growing up I revered leaders like famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and conservationist Jane Goodall, and I dreamed of becoming a swayful wildlife conservationist one day. Some of my fondest memories are of exploring the Amani forests with my college's friend, learning about both the awesome power of nature the threats to its well being.
I ultimately pursued a career in wildlife management at college of African wildlife management -Mweka and my friends too become a conservationists. Together, we founded Saviours of Wildlife with our slogan that Who pays for wildlife and who benefits?.
I recognize there are many conservation organizations doing incredible work on behalf of our planet and the many species who call it home.
I wanted to create an organization that complemented and collaborated with these organizations, so we chose to focus on protecting lesser-known endangered species.
My speech
If there’s one thing we know about life on Earth, it is that all of our diverse animals, plants, soil structures and waterways are interconnected in complex ways, many of which we cannot fully understand. In order to maintain ecological balance, we need to focus on all of the puzzle pieces–and this is becoming harder to do as we lose more and more species to climate change and human activity.
Saviors of wildlife focuses on lesser-known species because they are our early-warning signals for larger issues facing the ecosystem. For example, amphibians have a tremendous impact on their environment. They are not the face of environmental conservation in the same way as elephants,rhinoceros or gorillas, but because of their size and genetic makeup, these creatures are much more sensitive to climate change.
For example, saviour of wildlife is working to save amphibians, reptiles but also supporting efforts of conserving big wildlife like Rhino, giraffe and elephants through conservation education and capacity building to wildlife practititoners.
Saviours of wildlife is also working to save the world’s most endangered marine mammals. Only about 30% are left in the wild due to them becoming entangled in gill nets set for illegal fishing activities.The marine creatures are the most endangered Species.
Our planet is facing a biodiversity crisis. Last month , I was fortunate to share comment with Jane Goodall to discuss this critical issue. She reminded the word that she spoke to me 5 years ago “don’t forget, every single one of you makes a difference every single day.”
As we sit on the brink of losing thousands of more species, throwing our future into jeopardy, I am now asking you to make smart decisions .Please join us in reversing this crisis and making our collective future more secure contact
Brighton Mbilinyi, saviours of wildlife,college of African wildlife management.
brightonfrancis91@gmail.com +255756 525739
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