Giant Thunderclap Dinosaur at Dawn

Giant Thunderclap Dinosaur at Dawn

AKA Ledumahadi mafube

Ledumahadi mufabe was a Prosauropod or Sauropodomorph.  It was a precursor to the giant Sauropods.  Ledumahadi lived in the Early Jurassic Period before Sauropods grew to gigantic sizes.  It was about 13 feet tall at the hips.  That is 4 meters.  It weighed around 12 tons or around 24,000 lbs.  It was the largest land animal on Earth in its day.  It was the biggest thing walking through the forest.  Over millions of years Ledumahadi mufabe evolved into some of the true giants in the history of life on Earth.  It had characteristics of both the very early Sauropodomorphs and the later Sauropods.  DownIbelow I added a drawing of Plateosaurus.  Plateosaurus was a lighter built Sauropodomorph or Prosauropod.  "Pro" in this case means "pre"  because it was an ancestor to the later full Sauropods.  Notice that Plateosaurus was built lighter and not as robust.  It was possibly an ancestor to the later big Sauropods like Diplodocus.  Diplodocus was huge and very long, but built lighter than the Titanosaurs like Patagotitan and Argentinosaurus. 

Its name is from one of the languages from where it was found.  It was found in South Africa.  The language is Sesotho and the name means Giant Thunderclap at Dawn.  The legs are huge but not built like columns.  The later Sauropods had the columnar legs.  And of course, the later Sauropods grew to to be up to 60 tons.  The later Sauropods had longer necks as well. . . and they had proportionally smaller heads.  This dinosaur was probably an ancestor to Argentinosaurus and Patagotitan that lived much later in Argentina. So descendants of Ledumhadi must have migrated to Suoth America. . . of course at the time the continents stilled touched so they did not have to swim. You know, the correct term is probably RADIATED to South America, not migrated. A species radiation is about how a species spreads out to new areas.

In the drawing the Ledumahadi is feeding on a cycad tree.  The plants are all from the Mesozoic Era.  The Jurassic Period is one of the periods of the Mesozoic Era.  

NOTE:  The printable versions are found by clicking on the top buttons labeled either:  

All Printables . . . . or . . . . Paleontology.  The newest drawings are always at the bottom of the correct list.  Below are Patagotitan and Argenitonsaurs drawings.  They are probably descendants of Ledumahadi.

Patagotitan mayorum the Biggest Dinosaur

Argentinosaurus at Nesting Site

Plateosaurus 

Diplodocus on hind legs feeding on Cycad Tree