Paleontologists announced the discovery of a dinosaur-like animal--one that shared many characteristics with dinosaurs but fell just outside of the dinosaur family tree--living 10 million years earlier than the oldest known dinosaurs. The researchers conclude that dinosaurs and other close relatives such as pterosaurs (flying reptiles) might have also lived much earlier than previously thought.
The research also suggests that at least three times in the evolution of dinosaurs and their closest relatives, meat-eating animals evolved into animals with diets that included plants. These shifts all occurred in less than 10 million years, a relatively short time by geological standards.
Image credit: M.H. Donnelly
