Зимбабве улсын нутгаас олдсон Musango matusadonaensis нэртэй үлэг гүрвэлийн олдвор нь өмнөд Африкийн эртний амьтны аймаг Өмнөд Африкийн бүс нутгийнхнаас ялгаатай байсныг гэрчилж байна.
Палеонтологчид Зимбабве улсын Кариба нуурын орчмоос 210 сая жилийн өмнөх Триадын галавын үед хамаарах, хоёр хөл дээрээ явдаг, 4.5 метр урт, 220 кг жинтэй энэхүү үлэг гүрвэлийн үлдэгдлийг илрүүлжээ. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology сэтгүүлд нийтлэгдсэн энэхүү судалгаагаар олдвор нь диплодок зэрэг аварга том үлэг гүрвэлүүдийн өвөг болох сауроподоморф бүлэгт хамаардаг болохыг тогтоосон байна. Гавлын яс нь олдоогүй тул хооллолтын горимыг нь бүрэн тодорхойлох боломжгүй ч ойрын төрлийн амьтад нь голчлон өвсөн тэжээлтэй байжээ.
Судалгааны баг 2017 болон 2018 онд Матусадона үндэсний цэцэрлэгт хүрээлэнд хээрийн шинжилгээ хийж, хөвөгч байшин дээр лаборатори байгуулан ажилласан байна. Энэ бүс нутгаас олдсон Musango болон түүний төрлийн Musankwa үлэг гүрвэлүүд нь Өмнөд Африкийн бусад бүс нутгаас олдсон үлэг гүрвэлүүдтэй ижил төстэй бус, харин тухайн бүс нутагтаа өвөрмөц шинжтэй болох нь илэрчээ. Мөн уушгин загас, усны мөлхөгчдийн үлдэгдэл олдсон нь тухайн үеийн экосистем өвөрмөц бүтэцтэй байсныг нотолж байна.
Судлаач Пол Барреттын үзэж буйгаар, өмнө нь өмнөд Африкийн бүх бүс нутгаар ижил төстэй үлэг гүрвэлүүд амьдарч байсан гэж үздэг байсан бол энэхүү нээлт нь мөсөн уулын зөвхөн оройг харсан хэрэг байж магадгүй юм. Зимбабве улс тухайн үед экватортой илүү ойр байрлалтай байсан нь уур амьсгалын ялгааг үүсгэж, улмаар амьтны аймгийн тархалтад нөлөөлсөн байх магадлалтай гэж эрдэмтэд таамаглаж байна. Цаашид тус баг тухайн бүс нутгийн чулуулгийн нас болон хүрээлэн буй орчны нөхцөлийг нарийвчлан судлах замаар энэхүү экосистемийн ялгаатай байдлын шалтгааныг тодруулахаар төлөвлөж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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A newly described dinosaur from Zimbabwe, Musango matusadonaensis, is changing how scientists picture life in southern Africa 210 million years ago. It belongs to a group of species found only in that region, rather than being a copy of South Africa’s better-known fauna. Researchers now want to know why.
Africa holds up to 25% of Earth’s animal and plant species, a diversity tied to its varied habitats and deep evolutionary roots. Paleontologists have been excavating there for nearly two centuries. The continent is most famous for hominid fossils, but it also has a rich dinosaur record, which began with fossils from South Africa’s Eastern Cape described in the 1850s.
Zimbabwe is an important part of that puzzle, with dinosaur bones reported since 1916. The newest discovery, published through The Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, adds another piece.
Musango, A Dinosaur Like No Other
Musango matusadonaensis is a sauropodomorph, the dinosaur subgroup that eventually gave rise to four-legged, long-necked giants like Diplodocus. Its incomplete skeleton was found in the bank of the Nyamasango River, close to Musango Island, which is where the animal’s name comes from.
It walked on its hind legs only, reached about 4.5 meters in length and weighed 220 kg. Growth marks in its bones show it was a subadult when it died. As mentioned in the paper, the skull wasn’t preserved, so its diet is unknown, although its close relatives were largely herbivorous.
From Overlooked Fossils to a Houseboat Lab
Early finds in Zimbabwe were overlooked by many scientists. They became more widely known in the 1970s thanks to Zimbabwean paleontologists Geoffrey Bond and Michael Raath, who discovered abundant material around Bulawayo and in the lower Zambezi Valley. Most of it was identified as belonging to known South African species. Then paleontological work stalled for a few decades.
A band of devoted fossil hunters kept searching. According to Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum, who wrote the account, Steve Edwards, a local safari camp manager, found new, productive sites on the shore of Lake Kariba. The news reached Jonah Choiniere at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who immediately recognized the material’s importance and assembled an international team of South African, Zimbabwean and UK-based collaborators.
It was a major task, since the shoreline sites lie deep inside Matusadona National Park. The team used a Kariba houseboat as a mobile hotel and laboratory and mounted two expeditions, in 2017 and 2018. They have been cleaning and studying the material ever since.
The fossils came from brick-red mudstones and sandstones laid down by ancient rivers around 210 million years ago, during the Late Triassic (237 to 201 million years ago). Geological evidence and plant fossils show a dry landscape dotted with stands of large conifers, with green corridors of vegetation following permanent watercourses.
A Cast of Characters Found Nowhere Else
Given the similar age and geographic proximity, the team expected to find South African dinosaur species in these beds. Instead, Musango and its relative Musankwa, described from the same beds in 2024, are unique to Zimbabwe. They aren’t even the closest relatives of their South African neighbors. In Barrett’s words:
“Until recently, it was assumed that the dinosaurs living across southern Africa were largely the same.” He added “It suggests that what we’ve found so far is only the tip of the iceberg.”
Other fossils point the same way. Lungfish and aquatic reptiles called phytosaurs turned up, and both are rare or absent at South African sites. The team has also started to reappraise the historical dinosaur collections in Bulawayo, and many of those fossils, it appears, can’t be referred to South African species either, contrary to earlier assumptions.
So why the differences? According to an article published in The Conversation, Zimbabwe was then, as now, further north than South Africa and closer to the equator, so climatic differences might be responsible. Climate is known to have a strong effect on the distributions of living animals. To probe this further, the team will go back to Kariba in search of more fossils and collect more information on the exact ages and environments of the rocks, so they can compare them more precisely with sites elsewhere.
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