It has long been believed that tyrannosaurus rex I was a carnivore with a long neck dinosaur It quietly devours the leaves in the background. But new research suggests that dinosaur diets were much more diverse than previously thought.
Paleontologists from the University of Bristol in the UK investigated to better understand what different dinosaurs really ate. CT (computed tomography) scan of several dinosaur genera containing small bipedal skulls Thecodontosaurus and long neck Diplodocusboth considered herbivores, have created 3D models of their teeth.
“Because teeth are tools for breaking down food, they can give good clues as to what an animal is eating. Mayor Antonio Burrell (opens in new tab)The lead author of the study and a senior fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol said, “Therefore, it is hoped that different tooth geometries will be more efficient when processing different types of food.”
“In dinosaurs, we see an amazing variety of tooth types, including blade-like, cone-shaped, triangular, and leaf-shaped,” he added. “This is a dinosaur evolved They have different eating habits and specialize in a wide range of diets. Interestingly, many of these different types of tooth shapes were already present in early dinosaurs, suggesting that they may have been very diverse.”
The researchers then compared the shape and function (biting force) of dinosaur teeth to those of living reptiles, including reptiles of different species. lizardmonitor lizards, lizards, geckos, snakes, crocodile.
Related: Voracious Carnivorous Dinosaur Internal Organs Preserved in Extremely Rare Fossil
“Our knowledge of the relationship between tooth shape and diet is based on information from living species,” Barrer-Mayoral said. “For example, sharp, curved teeth are excellent for piercing and cutting soft foods such as meat, and are typical of carnivores, whereas straight teeth with denticles [serrations] It breaks down tougher items more efficiently, such as the exoskeletons of some plants and insects, and is present in herbivores and insectivores. ”
As an example, Ballell Mayoral pointed to the diets of the earliest known dinosaurs, including bipedal theropods, armored ornithischians and long-necked sauropodomorphs.
“Some of the early dinosaurs [such as theropods] The iguana, which was classified as a carnivore in our study, has teeth similar to those of a monitor lizard, with pointed, curved and finely serrated teeth,” he said. dinosaur [like the ornithischians and sauropodomorphs.]”
In fact, the ancestors of plant-eating dinosaurs weren’t confined to salad bars.
The researchers found that many of the early dinosaurs adopted “different eating habits,” a “very important factor in diversifying groups of organisms.”
“This study is the first to examine different types of diets and demonstrate with modern statistical methods that early dinosaurs were ecologically diverse,” he said. Our study confirms that two of the three major herbivore-adapted dinosaur lineages did not begin as herbivores. Diplodocus Other long-necked giants transitioned from carnivorous to herbivorous during the Triassic.Early ornithischians that gave rise to herbivorous dinosaurs Triceratops And much later duck-billed dinosaurs may have preferred an omnivorous diet. ”
yes, T Rex I really liked meat.
Findings were published in the journal on December 16 scientific progress (opens in new tab).
This article was optimized by the SEO Team at Clickworks
SEO
Source link