Sunday 26 March 2017

Major study shakes the roots of dinosaur family tree


March 23, 2017

by Chuck Bednar

The origins and classifications of dinosaurs as we have known them for the past century may be completely wrong, and the first such creatures may have emerged around 15 million years earlier than previously believed, claims research published this week in the journal Nature.

As part of the new study, scientists from the University of Cambridge and the Natural History Museum of London re-examined the lineages of and relationships between the dinosaurs for the first time in 130 years, and found that existing theories of their evolution could be incorrect. In fact, according to BBC News, lead author Matthew Baron of Cambridge and his colleagues looked at fossil evidence and determined that the dinosaurs may have actually originated in the Northern Hemisphere – possibly in a region that is currently part of the UK.

“The northern continents certainly played a much bigger role in dinosaur evolution than we previously thought and dinosaurs may have originated in the UK,” Baron told the media outlet. “We may be looking at the possibility that the very earliest dinosaurs were roaming an area that has become Britain and the group itself could have originated on these shores.”

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