- Scientists in Brazil have found dinosaur fossils in the
Amazon - proof, they say, that the creatures once lived in the region.
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- The Federal University in Rio de Janeiro said its researchers
found the remains of a new species of dinosaur, estimated to be 100 million
years old.
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- The dinosaur is part of a group of long-necked, long-tailed
plant-eaters called sauropods.
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- It has been named Amazonsaurus maranhensis, after Maranhao
state.
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- A dinosaur tooth was previously found in the Amazon,
in northern Brazil, but it was not regarded as proof that dinosaurs once
lived there.
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- Southern Brazil and northern Argentina have long provided
some of the best dinosaur finds.
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- But many scientists believe palaeontology research in
the Amazon rainforest is pointless, theorising that the high humidity of
the region would have caused relatively rapid decay of fossils.
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- Small but old
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- The Amazonsaurus belongs to the herbivorous sauropod
Diplodocus family. The only sauropods found in Brazil before were Titanosaurs.
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- The Amazonsaurus is believed to have been one of the
smallest sauropods - about 10 metres (30 foot) long and weighing about
10 tonnes.
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- Professor Ismar de Souza Carvalho, one of the scientists
who found the fossils, told BBC News Online that the Amazonsaurus was the
oldest sauropod found in Brazil.
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- He said the remains of other reptiles, including turtles
and crocodiles, were found with the dinosaur fossils as well as molluscs
and fish. They have allowed scientists to piece together a picture of the
climatic conditions in which the dinosaurs lived.
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- The other scientists involved were Leonardo dos Santos
Anvilla, another Brazilian from the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro
(UFRJ), and Argentine Leonardo Salgado, of the Comahue National University.
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- The UFRJ said similarities between the Amazon find and
fossil fauna found in north-western Africa backed the theory that South
America and Africa were once part of the same continent.
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3400265.stm
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