One of the most intriguing and old mysteries in the research of dinosaurs is if their blood was cold or hot. Generally, it was believed that dinosaurs, like nowadays reptiles, were cold-blooded animals.
However, as modern times approached, increasing recognition of the dinosaurian origin of birds has puzzled that belief, indicating that dinosaurs, similar to their feathered predecessors, might have had warm blood. The proof is that dinosaurs were warm-blooded, according to the structure of ancient elements stored inside fossilized dinosaur eggshells.
“What we found indicates that the ability to metabolically raise their temperatures above the environment was an early, evolved trait for dinosaurs,” explained Robin Dawson, a geophysicist from Yale University.
Dinosaurs Were Warm-Blooded According to Latest Study
Dawson and her team examined eggshell particles from dinosaurs that lived in Canada almost 75 million years ago. Among species, Maiasaura peeblesorum, a massive herbivore, and Troodon formosus, a bird-like, were studied. They also analyzed an eggshell from Romania, almost 69 million years old, believed to be a small titanosaur sauropod. The team utilized a method dubbed clumped isotope palaeothermometry to examine the chemical linking in the ancient carbonate mineral from the eggshells.
Moreover, the atomic arrangement of carbon and oxygen isotopes in the molecular structure suggests the temperature at which the composition developed — in this case, showing the internal body temperature of the mother dinosaur. Utilizing that technique, the team discovered that the samples implied the body temperatures were warmer than their near environment would have been.
The creatures were also found to be endothermic ( the skill of internally produce heat), contrary to ectothermic animals, which rely on warmness from their environment. So, in their observations, the samples were from 3 to 6 degrees Celsius hotter than their environment. Such a thing showcases ample proof of metabolic temperature control in dinosaurs.
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