Aliwalia
Aliwalia rex
Pronounced:
Ah - lee - Wall - ee - uh
Diet:
Carnivore (meat- eater)
Name Means:
"Aliwal One"
Length: 38
ft. (12 m)
Height: 12
ft. (3.5 m)
Weight: 1.5
tons (1,400 kg)
Time: Late
Triassic - 220 mya
Fossil remains for this Dinosaur have been found in
Africa
Aliwalia seems to be the first large
meat-eating dinosaur. It appeared shortly after
the very first dinosaurs that we know of and it
was much larger. This could have been the
grandfather of all the large predatory
dinosaurs. It was similar in looks to the
Herrerasaurus from South America, just
bigger.
Discovered in South Africa, there are a
number of questions surrounding Aliwalia.
Scientists base their theories on just two bone
fragments and there is still some question as to
the dating of the fossils. If it in fact lived
during the late Carnian, as has been suggested,
then the size of this dinosaur is staggering.
This was a time when there was very little
difference in the body types of herbivores and
carnivores. Originally, the remains were
attributed to a prosauropod based on their size.
There is no other evidence of theropods reaching
this size until tens of million of years later. |
