More than 200 million class ago , a mammal weighing more than a forward-looking - sidereal day ambulance and measuring some 4.5 meters long ( 15 feet ) and 2.6 meters tall ( 8.5 feet ) once ramble the Earth . Lisowicia bojaniwalked like the Hippopotamus amphibius or rhinoceros of today and , despite their gargantuan size , survived off of plants during the Triassic Period .
antecedently , paleontologist thought these massive creatures " recede to the shadow while dinosaurs rise up and raise to Brobdingnagian sizes , " study author Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki told IFLScience . They were believed to be scuttling along the flat coat in places like Africa , Asia , and North and South America . However , a newfangled breakthrough of the most double-dyed fossilised specimen discovered in Europe overturns this “ established picture ” of life history at this prison term .
" We mean it ’s one of the most unexpected fogey breakthrough from Triassic of Europe . Who would have ever thought that there is a dodo record of such giant , elephant - sized mammal cousins in this part of the world , " say Niedzwiedzki .
“ Until now , gigantisms in the Triassic appeared to be entirely a dinosaur adaptation , and antecedently know Triassic dicynodonts were well smaller , ” save the authors inScience . “ The uncovering ofLisowiciasuggests that general bionomical factors may have been the driving process rather than clade - specific attributes of the dinosaurs . ”
The researchers believe thatLisowiciabecame specialized herbivores that adapted to the needs of their environment . For starters , several features in their limb ( such as a “ monumental scapula ” ) suggest they were postural fauna , roaming upright on four legs to harvest food for thought . Nearly the size of an elephant and weighing an forecast 9,000 kilograms ( 10 tons ) , the researchers say this increment in body size could also have been drive by a need to protect itself against large marauder or as a way of life to maximise food retention and zip profit .
" Basically , the anatomy ofLisowiciadoes not depart so far from the other dicynodont but it shows some unique anatomic features ( e.g. physical body of forelimbs , cervical vertebra , breastbone ) unknown in other dicynodont . Lisowiciais the untried ( geologically ) and prominent penis of the dicynodont - line , " say Niedzwiedzki , addingLisowiciaare mammalian congenator of the folk dicynodonts , a chemical group of synapsids that includes mammalian and their ancestors .
But this evolution did n’t happen overnight . The team conceive it took around 20 million years forLisowiciato fare into their giant forms at a gradual size of it increase similar in pace to dinosaurs and by and by mammalian lineages .
As the authors take down , the enquiry suggests the chronicle of these giant animals is credibly more “ poorly documented ” than previously consider and that the dig in Europe forebode into interrogative sure notion about the animal and their geographic range , reach the potential for new enquiry and a greater understanding of these mammoth beast and the humankind they once exist in .
