A new study has found that dinosaurs roamed the Earth between 5 and 10 million years earlier than previously believed.
Scientists from Argentina, Brazil, California, and the Natural History Museum of Utah found that the first dinosaurs were roaming around between 234 and 236 million years old during the Late Triassic Period. That’s 5 to 10 million years younger than the previous estimate, according to the announcement of the findings.
“To discover that these early dinosaur relatives were geologically much younger than previously thought was totally unexpected,” said Randall Irmis, associate professor and curator of paleontology.
The results were garnered by employing radioactive isotope measurements to date zircon crystals found in the sediments of the Chañares Formation.
