Jurassic Park timing was correct. Huge dinosaurs DID exist before the Cretaceous period

Huge Ruyangosaurus made by HLTDINO

Jurassic Park, the book written by Michael Crichton and made into the blockbuster 1993 film, has long been derided for placing huge dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex too early in history.

But a new study, by the?University of Manchester, suggests that giant carnivorous creatures really did roam the planet before the Cretaceous period.

Researchers found three-toed footprints measuring 22 inches long and 19 inches wide which must have come from a 10ft tall dinosaur with a body length of around 30ft (nine metres) which lived 200 million years ago.

Although Steven Spielberg placed T.Rex in the Jurassic, the huge dinosaur actually did not evolve until the Cretaceous period, which began around 145 million years ago.

However the new species, named  Kayentapus ambrokholohal (Ambrose''s immortal, giant track-making dinosaur) and dates back to the early Jurassic, is part of the same group of huge dinosaurs called ‘megatherapods’ which included T.Rex. Other dinosaurs found from the time are only around half the size, or smaller.

Dr Fabien Knoll, Senior Research Fellow at The University of Manchester, said: “The latest discovery is very exciting and sheds new light on the kind of carnivore that roamed what is now southern Africa.

“That’s because it is the first evidence of an extremely large meat-eating animal roaming a landscape otherwise dominated by a variety of herbivorous, omnivorous and much smaller carnivorous dinosaurs. It really would have been top of the food chain.”

The new dinosaur was 30 feet long and 10 feet tall Credit: The University of Manchester

The footprints  were found on an ancient land surface, known as a palaeosurface, in the Maseru District of Lesotho, in southern Africa.

Dr Lara Sciscio, postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cape Town, said: ‘This discovery marks the first occurrence of very large carnivorous dinosaurs in the Early Jurassic of southern Gondwana – the prehistoric continent which would later break up and become Africa and other landmasses.

“This makes it a significant find. Globally, these large tracks are very rare. There is only one other known site similar in age and sized tracks, which is in Poland.”