By Stephen Beech via SWNS
Dinosaur poop is providing vital clues about “who ate whom” 200 million years ago.
Researchers have been able to identify undigested food remains, plants and prey in the fossilized feces of the big beasts.
They say their analysis of hundreds of samples, published in the journal Nature, has provided valuable new information about the role dinosaurs played in the ecosystem around 200 million years ago.
Study lead author Dr. Martin Qvarnström, of Uppsala University in Sweden, said: “Piecing together ‘who ate whom’ in the past is true detective work.
“Being able to examine what animals ate and how they interacted with their environment helps us understand what enabled dinosaurs to be so successful.”
Uppsala University paleontologists, working with researchers from Norway, Poland and Hungary, examined hundreds of samples using advanced synchrotron imaging to visualize the hidden, internal parts of the fossilized feces, known as coprolites, in detail.
By identifying undigested food remains, plants and prey, they have recreated the structure of the ecosystems at the time around 200 million years ago when dinosaurs began their success story.
The study focused on a previously underexplored region in the northern parts of the then “supercontinent” Pangea.
The team built up a detailed picture of the Triassic and Jurassic ecosystems – from about 230 to 200 million years ago – by combining the information from the coprolites with climate data and information from other fossils: plants, bite marks, vomit, footprints and bones.
Study senior author Dr. Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki said: “The research material was collected over a period of 25 years.
“It took us many years to piece everything together into a coherent picture.
“Our research is innovative because we have chosen to understand the biology of early dinosaurs based on their dietary preferences.
“There were many surprising discoveries along the way.”
He said that the coprolites contained remains of fish, insects, larger animals and plants, some of which were unusually well preserved, including small beetles and semi-complete fish.
Other coprolites contained bones chewed up by predators that, like today’s hyenas, crushed bones to obtain salts and marrow.
But the contents of coprolites from the first large herbivorous dinosaurs – the long-necked sauropods – surprised the researchers.
They contained large quantities of tree ferns, but also other types of plants, and charcoal.
The research team believes that charcoal was ingested to detoxify stomach contents, as ferns can be toxic to herbivores.
The study also addressed a significant “gap” in current knowledge: the first 30 million years of dinosaur evolution during the Late Triassic period.
Although much is known about their lives and extinction, the ecological and evolutionary processes that led to their rise are still largely unexplored.
The new study results in a five-step model of dinosaur evolution that the researchers believe can explain global patterns.
The research team emphasizes that understanding how the first dinosaurs achieved their success can offer valuable insights into prehistoric ecosystems and evolutionary processes in general.
The results show that dietary diversity and adaptability were crucial survival traits during the environmental changes of the Late Triassic.
Dr. Qvarnström said: “Unfortunately, climate change and mass extinctions are not just a thing of the past.
“By studying past ecosystems, we gain a better understanding of how life adapts and thrives under changing environmental conditions.”
Dr. Niedzwiedzki added: “The way to avoid extinction is to eat a lot of plants, which is exactly what the early herbivorous dinosaurs did.
“The reason for their evolutionary success is a true love of green and fresh plant shoots,”
