Summary: <h1> <em>Ledumahadi</em> and the first dinosaur giants</h1> <p>The sauropod dinosaurs—the classic long-necks—included the largest land animal species that have ever lived. Throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous, multiple families of sauropods achieved body masses over 50 tons: greater than any modern elephant and even exceeding the colossal indricothere rhinoceroses. Despite their incredible sizes, the sauropod dinosaurs have a murky early history…</p> <p>This <em>Past Time </em>episode features a brand new species of sauropod cousin from the Early Jurassic of South Africa: <em>Ledumahadi mafube</em>. Described in a new paper in the journal <em>Current Biology</em>, <em>Ledumahadi </em>is part of a group of dinosaurs traditionally called “prosauropods.” Unlike the straight, column-like legs of true sauropods, <em>Ledumahadi </em>has strong but flexed arms and legs that lacked weight-bearing adaptations of its later cousin. Despite these anatomical differences, this new colossus achieved a mass over 12 tons, upending our classic understanding of the evolution of gigantic size!</p> <p> </p> <h1>REFERENCES</h1> <p>The original paper on <em>Ledumahaadi mafube </em>was published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(18)30993-X.pdf"><em>Current Biology</em> and is available at this link</a>. The University of the Witwatersrand put out a great <a href="http://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/research-news/2018/2018-09/ledumahadi-mafube--south-africas-new-jurassic-giant.html">press release</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8FHxPocwDM">Youtube video</a> about this awesome find, so check those out too!</p> <p>For more great research on the early days of the giants, check out lead author <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2046886899_Blair_W_McPhee">Dr. Blair McPhee’s research profile</a>. To check out some great sauropod cousin specimens, check out the specimens on display at the <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/esi/">Evolutionary Studies Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa</a>.</p> <p>For more general information on sauropod cousins and the true sauropods, I recommend <a href="https://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/G104/lectures/104saurop.html">Dr. Tom Holtz’s overview of the group on his University of Maryland website</a>. You can also check out<a href="http://www.pasttime.org/2013/07/episode-4-field-guide-giant-dinosaur-mysteries-2/"> a classic <em>Past Time </em>episode on growth in the super-giant sauropods</a> featuring friend of the show Dr. Mike D’Emic.</p> <p>The awesome art used for our promo image is work by Viktor Radermache, an up-and-coming paleoartist who has also worked on other finds out of the Evolutionary Studies Institute. Check out this <a href="https://www.past.org.za/art-science-meet-viktor-radermachers-ledumahadi-illustrations/">cool interview with him</a> for some more science and artwork. I added myself to the artwork in the front under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons 4.0</a>.</p> <p>Sound effects from this episode are used under Creative Commons 3.0 licenses and were produced by AlexTriceratops123 (‘Elephant Growls’), Souchav (‘kid-playing-in-a-swimming-pool’), sonicport (‘stream6’), and maj061785 (‘stomp.’). These are available through freesound.org.</p>
