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| Dinosaur Toe Fossil (Photo: AP) |
The first evidence of dinosaurs once ruling over distant islands in the South Pacific has just been discovered.
Dr. Jeffrey Stilwell, a paleontologist at Monash University in Melbourne, reported that he discovered the fossilized footprints, toes, and bones of carnivorous dinosaurs on Chatham Island, located 850 km east of New Zealand. This finding confirms that Chatham was once connected to New Zealand.
“Previously, only a few pieces of dinosaur fossil evidence were found in northern New Zealand. Now we have discovered dinosaur fossils 1,000 km to the east, deep in the South Pacific.”
He added that the team has found more dinosaur fossils on Chatham than in New Zealand over the past 25 years. While some dinosaur remains have been discovered along the Antarctic Peninsula and in South America, this is the first finding in the southwest Pacific and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere.
“Dinosaurs have followed their own evolutionary path for 15 million years since the separation of Chatham and New Zealand about 80 million years ago.”
M.T
