Dinosaur Fossil Dates Back 240 Million Years Ago; Found in Tanzania, Was It the First Dinosaur to Roam Earth?

The existence of dinosaurs might have dated millions of years earlier than first projected based on the discovery of a new fossil.

Given the name Nyasasaurus parringtoni, the dinosaur fossil was found in the African country of Tanzania in the 1930s, but it was just recently that studies were taken, according to LiveScience.

According to results, the fossil dates back 240 million years ago, roughly 10 to 15 years earlier than researchers believe dinosaurs first existed.

The results, detailed in the journal Biology Letters, stated the dinosaur in question was 6.5 to 10 feet tall and weighed between 45 and 135 pounds.

"If the newly named Nyasasaurus parringtoni is not the earliest dinosaur, then it is the closest relative found so far," said University of Washington Postdoctoral Biology Researcher Sterling Nesbitt, lead researcher of the study.

Analysis of the fossil also included on the layers of the rock.

"We can tell from the bone tissues that Nyasasaurus had a lot of bone cells and blood vessels," said co-author Sarah Werning from the University of California, Berkeley, who performed studies on the bones. "In living animals, we only see this many bone cells and blood vessels in animals that grow quickly, like some mammals or birds."

Nesbitt added that the research helped reveal the status of early dinosaurs, stating they were not the "dominant beasts" as they're commonly known as but instead grew up to that distinction.

"They were a unique group, but they didn't evolve and take over terrestrial ecosystems immediately," said Nesbitt. "Most of what we see in museums are from the Jurassic and Cretaceous when they did dominate - at their origins they were just a part of the radiation of Archosaurs."