There’s A Dinosaur That Survived Mass Extinction!

Step aside, tyrannasaurus. There’s a new dinosaur
in town and it goes by the name of Leikupallaticauda. Not very catchy. Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews – and if you
like dinosaurs, then you’re gonna love thisstory.
A new fossil uncovered in Patagonia has providedthe first evidence that certain dinosaurs
survived the great extinction, and existedmillions of years after they were thought
to have died off. The diplodocid sauropod is a family of long-necked,
whip-tailed dinosaurs – made famous by thisscene from the second Jurassic Park movie.
They are some of the longest creatures toever roam the earth, and they were assumed
to have gone extinct at the end of the Jurassicera – around 150 million years ago.
Thanks to this new finding, however, researchersin Argentina now have the earliest record
of them in existence, dating back to the earlyCretaceous period – around 130 million years
ago. Even more interesting, it was found ina place they never expected: South America.
Eight vertebrae were discovered in the rockyoutcrops of the “Bajada Colorada,” a Cretaceous-era
formation in western Argentina. This is thefirst time this family of dinosaurs has been
found in any southern land mass, aside fromAfrica – which, according to researchers,
means they must have evolved from other dinosaursbefore Africa and South America split apart.
Until now, the species was thought to be anexclusively North American dinosaur. So this
new evidence, researchers say, may help shedlight on how different dinosaurs migrated
around the globe in response to climate change. It’s kind of amazing how much we continue
to discover about the world around us. AndI dunno about you guys, but dinosaurs are
one of the most fascinating things in theworld to me. Hopefully you agree. And if you have any thoughts
about this finding, feel free to leave themin the comments below – otherwise, thanks
for watching!