These elephant-sized beasts rubbed shoulders with dinosaurs, proving that early cousins of mammals weren’t all runts
- The newly discovered Lisowicia bojani roamed prehistoric grasslands about 205 million years ago, and were much larger than similar creatures
Dinosaurs living more than 200 million years ago may have dominated the plains and grasslands of prehistoric Earth, but it turns out they still had some sizeable competition.
Scientists on Thursday unveiled the discovery of a gigantic mammal-like reptile the size of an elephant that they believe rubbed shoulders with large Triassic-era dinosaurs, including the relatives of sauropods such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus.
Researchers from Polish and Swedish universities said the 10-tonne creatures – a distant “cousin” to today’s mammals – challenge the idea that dinosaurs were the only large land animals around the time Earth had a single, enormous landmass known as Pangaea.
They unearthed fossilised remains belonging to a previously unknown species of dicynodont, herbivores whose size ranged from small burrowers to large grazers, and who were mostly toothless.
All mammals, including humans, are descended from dicynodonts, despite their reptilian origins.