The discovery & # 39; & # 39 of herbivores; ancient elephant called as "startling"

BERLIN – giant creature, eating plants with & # 39; mouth similar to bees and reptile features could have made holiday to the Earth during the late Triassiku more than 200 million years ago, scientists said. F & # 39; document published Thursday by the journal Science, the Polish researchers claim to change the concept that the only eaters giants at the time were the dinosaurs.

The creature as the elephant, known as Bojan Lisowicia after village in southern Poland where her remains were found, belonged to the same evolutionary branch as mammals.

Similar fossils found so-called cross-band & # 39; other, but were dated they were from earlier period, before a series of & # 39; natural disasters wiped most species on Earth.

"We used to think that after the end of the Permian extinction, mammals and their relatives went back to the shadows while the dinosaurs rose and grew to enormous sizes," said Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, paleontologu at the University of & # 39; Uppsala in Sweden who co-authored the paper.

The discovery & # 39; dicynodons giants living in the same time as sauropods – the dinosaurs branch of the family which later produced the diplodoku emblematic b & # 39; long neck – suggests that environmental factors in the period Triassiku could later triggered the evolution of gigantism.

Christian Kammerer, specialist & # 39; Dicynodont in Natural Sciences Museum & # 39; North Carolina is not involved in the discovery, said the size of & # 39; Lisowicia was "startling."

"Large Diċnondotti been known before in both the Permian and in the Triassiku, but never in & # 39; this scale," he said.

Kammerer said that while xinontoni and dinosaurs existed at the same time, for m & # 39; no evidence that lived in the same habitat. He also questioned the conclusions of the study on the state of & # 39; Lisowicia.

"However, with & # 39; in general I think this is really intriguing and important document, and show us that there is still much left to learn about early mammals in the Triassic relatives," said Kammerer.

Last year, a study proclaimed New species listed the heavyweight champion of all dinosaurs – at 76 tons, the behemoth that eats the plant was so heavy as space shuttle.