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For the first time, two researchers--one from the University of Copenhagen and the other from Columbia University--have accurately dated the arrival of the first herbivorous dinosaurs in East Greenland. Their results demonstrate that it took the dinosaurs 15 million years to migrate from the southern hemisphere, as a consequence of being slowed down by extreme climatic conditions. Their long walk was only possible because as CO2 levels dropped suddenly, the Earth's climate became less extreme.
A snail could have crawled its way faster. 10,000 km over 15 million years--that's how long it took the first herbivorous dinosaurs to make their way from Brazil and Argentina all the way to East Greenland. This, according to a new study by Professor Lars Clemmensen of the University of Copenhagen's Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management and researcher Dennis Kent of New York's Columbia University.