SMC Articles

Carnivores  dinosaurs are some of the most studied of the ancient creatures, and a new one was just discovered in Southern Africa.  And this one is big.

The Kayentapus Ambrokholohali’s footprints were found in Lesotho.  These footprints measured 50 cm long and 57 cm wide.  This gives the KA an estimated size of 30 meters in length, and 3 meters in height.

The KA belongs to a group of dinosaurs called megatheropods.  another notable dinosaur belonging to this group is probably the most famous, and that is the Tyrannosaurus Rex.  

Dr. Fabien Knoll, a Senior Research Fellow at Manchester University expressed the importance of the discovery. “The latest discovery is very exiting,” Knoll said, “It sheds new light on the type of carnivore that roamed southern africa.”

The discovery of the KA is a big one not just because of it’s size and group, but because of it’s location.

“This is the first evidence of an extremely large meat eating animal roaming a landscape otherwise dominated by a variety of herbivores, “Knoll said, “It really would have been the top of the food chain.”

These footprints also date back to a time before many megatheropods ever showed up.  This being in the early Jurassic period.  The T-Rex didn’t show up till around the early Cretaceous period.  The Allosaurus, another famous megatheropod, didn’t come around until the late Jurassic, so that not only leaves the KA as the dominant predator of it’s area, but possibly it’s age.