The Sauropods They were dinosaurs of large relationships that were characterized by long column, neck and tail legs and small heads With regard to the size of your body. They were herbivores and four -legged friends, although they could sometimes stand on their hind legs to reach food or to scare their predators.
Because of the shape of their skulls, because the teeth did not help them to completely chew the plants Of those who fed, these dinosaurs used gasting rolytes (gastric stones) to help their digestive system close this process.
Loose Sauropods were slow and slow and could reach large dimensionsBecause they grew all their lives. In fact, it is some of the larger terrestrial vertebrates that have inhabited our planet.
New Sauropod -data
Judy is the name they have given to a copy of Diamondinasaurus MatildaeExisting more than 94 million years ago, from which fossilized intestinal residues were obtained that confirm a diet herbivore And diverse. The plants were bitten in, but not chewed, how shows that they have processed food thanks to them Intestinal flora And they largely hung from fermentation by bacteria.
Also the Stomach or Gastolitestenes was missing To crush and digest meals. This suggests that the Sauropods do not swallow them voluntarily, like other animals, to improve their intestinal transit.
He study, published in Current biology, Shows the first direct test of gastro -center content Belonging to a Sauropod, despite the fact that his clad lived on all continents for more than 130 million years. Under the factors that contributed to its preservation, the low change to which the body was subjected was by scoops and the acid environment in the digestive tract.
A very varied diet
Earlier, scientists have the fact that these Dinosaurs were herbivores thanks to their anatomical characteristics such as their neck and jaw. It was only in 2017, when a team of the Australian Museum of the Dinosaurs era found a skeleton Diamondinasaurus Matildae of the average chalk in the formation of Winton (Australia).
During the process, They found a broken layer with a Sauropod CololiteThat is, a series of well -proposed fossils of plants. Among them were admitted with conifers, fruit and flowers; what a variable diet indicated
“The plants in Judy suggest that the Diamondinasaurus consumed at different levels, at least when it was subadult, and that It was a small selective animal in its dietThat is, he would take many parts of different plants and was not demanding with his food, “says the most important author of the study and researcher at the University of Curtin (Australia), Stephen Poropat. In that sense, the archaeological remains of the hypotheses confirm the enormous influence that the Sauropods had on the ecosystems of the whole world during the Mesozoic, according to the scientist.
Resilience against flowers
Something that surprised Poropat was to feed on angio spreads or flowers. According to the study, these types of plant species were as present as needle In Australia about 100 million years ago. This suggests that they had successfully adapted to eat flowers after 40 million years of the first proof of the presence of these plants in the fossil register, the expert points out.
“The Food flexibility was a key factor in the evolution of sauropods in general“, Says Poropat.” If a certain group experienced a change in their diet when it grew up, it could have survived the flower changes better than those who have specialized in a kind of food, “he argues.
Age tagged food
Moreover, Poropat and his team have shown that Diamondinasaurus They fed from different plants according to them age. ‘After being born from an egg smaller than a standard footballThe sauropods had to eat plants close to the ground because it was all they could achieve, “says the researcher. As they grew, they expanded their diet with other higher plant species, thanks to them elongated neck And robust teeth.
In particular the The presence of needle leaves in fossilized remains implies a high feedWhile seed and flower pods represent an average diet (3 meters) and a short distance (1 and 2 meters) respectively.
“Judy’s skeleton shows a diet based on the plants of the treetops, but also of lower levels,” he explains. However, the study has its limitations because it only shows the food that followed two weeks earlier. “We do not know whether preserved plants represent their typical dietHe concludes. Ecoticia.com