Swedish researchers from Uppsala University have studied dinosaur dung fossils that are millions of years old. This study, published on November 27 in Naturemade it possible to trace the diet of the first dinosaurs.
“Tell me what you eat, I will tell you what you are. » Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden have succeeded in making fossilized dinosaur excrement speak in a study published on November 27, 2024 in the journal Nature.
Two Swedish researchers from Uppsala University, in collaboration with Norwegian, Polish and Hungarian researchers, analyzed hundreds of samples of coprolites (scientific name for fossilized excrement). Using synchroton radiation imaging, a three-dimensional imaging technique, they sought to identify remains of undigested food in these fossils.
The study focused on the Polish basin, an area little studied until now. “Being able to examine what animals ate and how they interacted with their environment helps us understand what made dinosaurs so successful » explains Martin Qvarnström, one of the authors of the study, in a communiqué.
What was the diet of dinosaurs in what is now Poland?
The result of these particular excavations revealed remains of large animals, plants and bones, gnawed to extract the marrow and salts. Remains were also found there, surprisingly well preserved and almost complete, of fish and insects. Among long-necked sauropods, the first large herbivorous dinosaurs, various plants and charcoal were detected.
According to the researchers, charcoal was likely used to detoxify the stomach, as some ferns could be toxic.
This study made it possible to reconstruct the ecosystem of the first 30 million years of evolution of past giants, a period about which researchers have very little information. Thanks to this new data, the academics were able to map the evolution of dinosaurs into five stages and how they achieved this evolutionary success.
The herbivorous diet would have saved dinosaurs
Martin Qvarnström states that “ Climate change and mass extinctions are not just a thing of the past. By studying past ecosystems, we better understand how life adapted and thrived under changing environmental conditions.”. Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki even states that: “ To avoid extinction, you have to eat a lot of plants, like the first herbivorous dinosaurs did. The reason for their evolutionary success is their true love of fresh, green plant shoots. » Should we take inspiration from dinosaurs?
Source: www.numerama.com
