See other Science/Tech Articles
Title: Rewriting prehistory: Dinosaurs ate grass
Source:
AP
URL Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/ ... 117-1435-dinograss-eaters.html
Published: Nov 18, 2005
Author: Lauran Neergaard
Post Date: 2005-11-18 14:13:19 by A K A Stone
Keywords: prehistory:, Rewriting, Dinosaurs
Views: 926
Comments: 81
WASHINGTON – Imagine dinosaur terrain – full of ferns and palms, right? Better add some grass to that picture. A new discovery debunks the theory that grasses didn't emerge until long after the dinosaurs died off. Fossilized dung tells the story: The most prominent plant-eating dinosaurs were digesting different varieties of grass between 65 million and 71 million years ago, researchers report Friday in the journal Science. Advertisement Click Me! The earliest grass fossils ever found were about 55 million years old – from the post-dinosaur era. It's a big surprise for scientists, who had never really looked for evidence of grass in dino diets before. After all, grass fossils aside, those sauropods – the behemoths with the long necks and tails and small heads – didn't have the special kind of teeth needed to grind up abrasive blades. "Most people would not have fathomed that they would eat grasses," noted lead researcher Caroline Stromberg of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Stromberg and a team of paleobotanists from India analyzed sauropod dung – the scientific term is coprolites – found in central India. The coprolites contained microscopic particles of silica called phytoliths, which form inside plant cells in distinctive patterns that essentially act as a signature. Amid the expected plants were numerous phytoliths certain to have come from the grass family, report Stromberg and Vandana Prasad of India's Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany. They included relatives of rice and bamboo and forage-type grasses. They didn't eat a lot of grass, the evidence shows. But grasses must have originated considerably earlier, well over 80 million years ago, for such a wide variety to have evolved and spread to the Indian subcontinent in time to be munched by sauropods, they concluded. "These remarkable results will force reconsideration of many long-standing assumptions" about dinosaur ecology, wrote Dolores Piperno and Hans-Dieter Sues of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in an accompanying review. Beyond the great curiosity about dinosaur life, the discovery has implications about the coevolution of this huge plant family – there are about 10,000 separate grass species – with other plant-eaters, Piperno explained. Indeed, a mysterious early mammal that roamed among the dinosaurs had more suitable teeth for grazing, raising the possibility of an early adaptation, the researchers note.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
#2. To: A K A Stone (#0)
So what this is saying that ALL dinosaurs were grass eaters.. Now consider this.. if God created them then would He not have created them perfectly? Why would God give some dinosaurs canine teeth which would enable them to eat meat best rather than teeth that would make them eat grass in not the most efficient way? Does this say God made an error?
Critters have differing ways of collecting grass: some chomp it off, while others pull it out. There are also different ways of digesting said grasses. Who knows how many tummies the dinos possessed?
Who knows how many tummies the dinos possessed? I suppose that the fossils reveal that they had vegetable matter in their stomachs or dung.. ?
;-) So it seems. I'm not sure why anyone would find it odd that they liked their veggies: my dogs enjoy a breakfast mix of green beans, carrots, brown rice, small red beans, black beans, walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts which I cook in chicken broth harvested from boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Then in the afternoon we'll enjoy either raw carrots, strawberries, bananas, or pineapple pieces. In fact, one of them is barking at me right now to alert me that it's time for the afternoon snack.
My dog loves oranges.. if you eat an orange you may as well know at least half of it is hers.. :P
My Mom used to have a cat that ate olives.
#15. To: Dakmar (#10)
They're are racoons here that rain the trash.. they get leftover pizza and pick off the olives! LOL
Whoa. In it's kitty martini? Cheers, Daks.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#4. To: Zipporah (#2)
#7. To: lodwick (#4)
Critters have differing ways of collecting grass: some chomp it off, while others pull it out. There are also different ways of digesting said grasses.
#8. To: Zipporah (#7)
I suppose that the fossils reveal that they had vegetable matter in their stomachs or dung.. ?
#9. To: lodwick (#8)
#10. To: Zipporah, lodwick (#9)
Replies to Comment # 10. My Mom used to have a cat that ate olives.
#27. To: Dakmar (#10)
My Mom used to have a cat that ate olives.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 10.