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Ravenous meat-eating dinosaur’s guts preserved in exceptionally rare fossil

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The “exceptional” fossil of Daurlong wangi from the Upper Cretaceous period of Inner Mongolia, China. (Image credit: Wang, X. et al. Scientific Reports (2022); (CC BY 4.0))

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More than 100 million years ago, a fearsome birdlike dinosaur was swept into a lake and transformed into an exceptional fossil in what is now China, preserving one of the few intact gut remnants known from nonavian dinosaurs, a new study finds.

Paleontologists knew they had unearthed something special when they saw “a large bluish layer in the abdomen” of the fossilized beast, which belongs to the newly discovered species Daurlong wangi, as well as a dinosaur lineage called the dromaeosaurids, which includes the ancestors of modern birds. This bluish layer had “exceptional preservation” of the dinosaur’s gut, the researchers wrote in the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports (opens in new tab) on Nov. 19.

The finding offers valuable insight into both bird and dinosaur gut evolution, giving researchers a clearer window into dinnertime during the Lower Cretaceous (145 million to 100.5 million years ago). 

Related: These 125 million-year-old fossils may hold dinosaur DNA

Dromaeosaurids — also known as “raptors” — like D. wangi were mostly small, feathered and carnivorous. This group roamed the Earth from the mid-Jurassic period (about 167 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous period (66 million years ago). Their ranks included some of the most famous pop culture dinosaurs, such as Velociraptor and Deinonychus. But despite their popularity, little is known about their actual guts.

Soft tissue preservation is rare for any fossil, and intestinal preservation is particularly uncommon in dinosaurs. “This is the first case among dromaeosaurids,” study co-author Andrea Cau, an independent paleontologist based in Parma, Italy, told Live Science in an email. 

Fossilization conditions have to be just right in order to prevent decay-causing bacteria from eating away delicate soft tissues, such as cartilage and organs. The newly described D. wangi specimen was likely buried very quickly under soft, fine sediments at the bottom of a body of water in what is now the Jehol Biota — an area known for well-preserved fossils in modern-day Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in northern China. There, in the low-oxygen environment where aerobic bacteria could not survive, the dinosaur’s remains mineralized into fossils. 

The researchers named the dinosaur’s genus, “Daurlong,” after the Daur people of Inner Mongolia and “long,” the Chinese word for “dragon.” The species name, “wangi,” honors Wang Junyou, the director of the Inner Mongolian Museum of Natural History.

The remarkable preservation provides insight into how D. wangi lived, and what it could have eaten. From what the researchers could tell, its intestinal tract appears similar to the very few other remnants known from meat-eating dinosaurs, suggesting that more omnivorous dromaeosaurid gut plans didn’t evolve until after the dawn of modern birds following the Cretaceous period. It also appears that D. wangi ate small prey, such as mammals (which were no larger than badgers during the Mesozoic era), fish, other small dinosaurs and possibly amphibians. “Given the abundance of frogs and other amphibians in the Daurlong locality,” it’s possible that this dromaeosaurid hunted frogs and salamanders, Cau said.

Although D. wangi‘s guts were preserved, its stomach was not. Perhaps the “extremely acid environment of the stomach immediately after the death of the animal” prevented it from mineralizing and turning into a fossil, the researchers wrote in the study. 

Contrary to their depiction in the 1993 movie “Jurassic Park,” most dromaeosaurids were relatively small and lightweight. D. wangi itself was a little less than five feet (1.5 meters) long from tip to tail, about the size of a pony. And, like other members of its family, it sported feathers.

In the future, Cau and his team plan to examine the specimen more closely to glean insight about its feathers, life, and possibly its death. “Our hope is to determine some information about its plumage color in life and to better reconstruct the peculiar conditions which led to soft tissue preservation,” he said.

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Science

Fossils of Europe’s largest meat-eating dinosaur found on Isle of Wight

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Step aside, T. Rex. 

Fossilized bones found on England’s Isle of Wight indicate there may have been an even bigger carnivorous king roaming pre-historic lands.

Paleontologists announced on Thursday that the remains of a meat-eating dinosaur may be larger than any other known in Europe and may be a cousin of the biggest carnivorous dinosaur species ever recorded, according to Reuters.

Parts of the skeleton of this dinosaur were dug up — including back, hip and tail bones and some limb fragments — they’ve been dated about 125 million years back during the Cretaceous Period.

SCIENTISTS CLAIM TO FIND DINOSAUR REMAINS FROM DAY OF ASTEROID STRIKE: REPORT

In an email exchange with Fox News Digital, University of Southampton paleobiologist Neil J. Gostling shared on Friday that these scattered remains lead him to believe that the massive beast measured “significantly” more than 33 feet long.

“This is a huge animal!” he exclaimed.

A diagram shows fossil remains of a meat-eating dinosaur dubbed the “White Rock spinosaurid,” dating from about 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. This was unearthed on England’s Isle of Wight. (Barker et al/Handout via REUTERS)

“The spinosaurus that we described last year from the Wessex at the 127 million-year-old deposit … are animals which were roughly 8 to 9 m long. This animal is huge.”

“The size of the specimen is impressive,” University of Southampton doctoral student in paleontology Chris Barker told Reuters. 

“It is one of the biggest — and possibly the biggest — known land predators ever to stalk Europe.”

Experts concluded that the remains most likely belonged to a group of dinos called Spinosaurs, based on a pattern of small grooves on the top of the tail bone. 

T. REX MIGHT ACTUALLY BE THREE SEPARATE SPECIES: STUDY

This group includes the dinosaur Spinosaurus, which lived about 95 million years ago and has been considered the longest-measuring predator — at about 50 feet long.

Gostling revealed that this new dinosaur “very well could” be approaching Spinosaurus size.

Spinosaurs have a makeup comparable to crocodiles, with elongated skulls and plenty of cone-shaped teeth for chomping down on slippery, aquatic prey.

An artist’s illustration shows a large meat-eating dinosaur dubbed the “White Rock spinosaurid,” whose remains dating from about 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period were unearthed on England’s Isle of Wight, standing on a beach, surrounded by flying reptiles called pterosaurs. ​​
(Anthony Hutchings/Handout via REUTERS)

The newly found dinosaur has not yet been given a scientific name, since not all remains have been found — but paleontologists are calling it “White Rock spinosaurid” for the time being.

The name derives from the geological layer, the Cretaceous Vectis Formation, where the bones were uncovered. 

Experts believe this dinosaur is completely unique, not belonging to any other kind of species identified before it.

This layer is an “unusual” location, since coastal environments are not known to preserve fossils well, according to Gostling.

He added, “Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that it is a spinosaur. Unlike other theropod dinosaurs, spinosaurus are known to have a closer relationship with water.”

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Experts believe this dinosaur is completely unique, not belonging to any other kind of species identified before it.

The analysis from Gostling and his team indicates the fossils might have specifically belonged to a Spinosaurine, which could mark the first Spinosaurine spinosaur in the British fossil record.

Among the meat-eating dinosaur family, also known as theropods, were some of the largest-known dinos on the continent — such as North America’s Tyrannosaurs Rex, measuring 42 feet, and Europe’s Torvosaurus, stretching about 33 feet.

A Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur fossil skeleton is displayed in a gallery at Christie’s auction house on Sept. 17, 2020, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The White Rock spinosaurid could be just as large as the T. Rex, Gostling told Reuters.

“Let’s hope more fossils turn up,” he said. 

“We would love a skull or teeth.”

The Isle of Wight has become a rich site for digging up dino bones.

The fossils were first spotted along Compton Bay on the Isle’s southwestern coast.

The Isle of Wight has become a rich site for digging up dino bones.

The bones were first discovered by Gostling’s colleague Dr. Jeremy Lockwood and dinosaur hunter Nick Chase — who died before the pandemic, thus missing the discovery’s public debut.

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“He would have been delighted and very pleased that Jeremy gave the material to me and Chris to look at, given what we have discovered the bones tell us,” Gostling said.

Reuters contributed reporting to this article. 

Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle writer for Fox News Digital. Follow her on Twitter at @atstabile.

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Science

Europe’s largest meat-eating dinosaur found on Isle of Wight

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June 9 (Reuters) – Fossilized bones discovered on a rocky seashore on England’s Isle of Wight are the remains of a meat-eating dinosaur that may be larger than any other known from Europe, a beast that was a cousin of the biggest carnivorous dinosaur species on record.

Paleontologists said on Thursday they have found parts of the skeleton of the dinosaur, which lived about 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, including bones of the back, hips and tail, some limb fragments but no skull or teeth. Based on the partial remains, they estimated that the dinosaur exceeded 33 feet (10 meters) long and perhaps reached much more.

“The size of the specimen is impressive. It is one of the biggest – and possibly the biggest – known land predator ever to stalk Europe,” said Chris Barker, a University of Southampton doctoral student in paleontology and lead author of the study published in the journal PeerJ Life & Environment.

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Based in part on a series of small grooves on the top of the tail vertebra, they concluded that it belonged to a group of dinosaurs called spinosaurs that included Spinosaurus, which lived about 95 million years ago and at about 50 feet (15 meters) long is considered the longest-known dinosaur predator. read more

Spinosaurs had elongated skulls reminiscent of crocodiles with lots of conical teeth – perfect for grasping slippery prey – as well as strong arms and big claws. They fed upon aquatic prey as well as other dinosaurs.

Because of the incomplete nature of the remains, the researchers have not yet given the newly described dinosaur a scientific name, but are calling it the “White Rock spinosaurid” based on the geological layer where the bones were found. They believe it is not a member of any previously identified species.

Meat-eating dinosaurs belonged to a clade called theropods, with each continent producing immense examples. They were bipedal and the largest had massive skulls and strong teeth.

Artist’s illustration shows a large meat-eating dinosaur dubbed the “White Rock spinosaurid,” whose remains dating from about 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period were unearthed on England’s Isle of Wight, standing on a beach, surrounded by flying reptiles called pterosaurs. ​​Anthony Hutchings/Handout via REUTERS.

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Spinosaurus was Africa’s largest. Tyrannosaurus rex, approaching 42 feet (13 meters), was North America’s king, while the similarly sized Giganotosaurus reigned in South America and the slightly smaller Tarbosaurus in Asia. The largest-known named theropod from Europe was Torvosaurus, at about 33 feet (10 meters). read more

The newly described dinosaur might turn out to be as long as T. rex, according to University of Southampton paleobiologist and study corresponding author Neil Gostling.

“This one is really big,” Gostling said. “Let’s hope more fossils turn up. We would love a skull or teeth.”

Looking at the teeth could help researchers better understand this dinosaur’s position on the spinosaur family tree.

The fossils were spotted on the surface along Compton Bay on the southwestern coast of the Isle of Wight. The dinosaur inhabited a lagoon environment also populated by various plant-eating dinosaurs and flying reptiles called pterosaurs. At the time, sea levels were much higher than today and large parts of Europe were submerged.

The Isle of Wight has become one of Europe’s richest locales for dinosaur remains. The same team of researchers last year announced the discovery of two other Isle of Wight Cretaceous spinosaurs, both measuring about 30 feet long (9 meters). read more

Those finds combined with the latest one buttress their hypothesis that spinosaurs as a group originated and diversified in western Europe before expanding elsewhere.

“This new material corroborates our previous work that highlights Europe as an important region for spinosaur diversification,” Barker said.

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Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Health

Children With Vegetarian Diet Have Similar Growth and Nutrition Compared to Meat-Eating Peers

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By St. Michael’s Hospital
May 3, 2022

A new research study finds children with a vegetarian diet have similar growth and nutrition compared to children who eat meat.

However, children with a vegetarian diet had increased odds of underweight weight status.

A study of almost 9,000 children revealed that those who eat a vegetarian diet had similar measures of growth and nutrition compared to kid’s who eat meat. The research also found that children with a vegetarian diet had increased odds of underweight weight status, emphasizing the need for special care when planning the diets of vegetarian kids. The study was published on May 2, 2022, in the journal Pediatrics and led by researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto.

The findings come as a shift to consuming a plant-based diet accelerates in Canada. In 2019, updates to Canada’s Food Guide urged Canadians to embrace plant-based proteins, such as beans, nuts, and tofu, instead of meat.

Dr. Jonathon Maguire, pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto and a scientist at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital. Credit: Unity Health Toronto

“Over the last 20 years we have seen growing popularity of plant-based diets and a changing food environment with more access to plant-based alternatives, however we have not seen research into the nutritional outcomes of children following vegetarian diets in Canada,” said Dr. Jonathon Maguire, lead author of the study and a pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto.

“This study demonstrates that Canadian children following vegetarian diets had similar growth and biochemical measures of nutrition compared to children consuming non-vegetarian diets. A vegetarian diet was associated with higher odds of underweight weight status, underscoring the need for careful dietary planning for children with underweight when considering vegetarian diets.”

Researchers evaluated 8,907 children aged six months to eight years. The children were all participants of the TARGet Kids! cohort study and data was collected between 2008 and 2019. Participants were categorized by vegetarian status – defined as a dietary pattern that excludes meat – or non-vegetarian status.

Researchers found children who had a vegetarian diet had similar mean body mass index (BMI), height, iron, vitamin D, and cholesterol levels compared to those who consumed meat. The findings showed evidence that children with a vegetarian diet had almost two-fold higher odds of having underweight, which is defined as below the third percentile for BMI. There was no evidence of an association with overweight or obesity.

Underweight is an indicator of undernutrition, and may be a sign that the quality of the child’s diet is not meeting the child’s nutritional needs to support normal growth. For children who eat a vegetarian diet, the researchers emphasized access to healthcare providers who can provide growth monitoring, education and guidance to support their growth and nutrition.

International guidelines about vegetarian diet in infancy and childhood have differing recommendations, and past studies that have evaluated the relationship between vegetarian diet and childhood growth and nutritional status have had conflicting findings.

“Plant-based dietary patterns are recognized as a healthy eating pattern due to increased intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber, whole grains, and reduced saturated fat; however, few studies have evaluated the impact of vegetarian diets on childhood growth and nutritional status. Vegetarian diets appear to be appropriate for most children,” said Dr. Maguire, who is also a scientist at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital.

A limitation of the study is that researchers did not assess the quality of the vegetarian diets. The researchers note that vegetarian diets come in many forms and the quality of the individual diet may be quite important to growth and nutritional outcomes. The authors say further research is needed to examine the quality of vegetarian diets in childhood, as well as growth and nutrition outcomes among children following a vegan diet, which excludes meat and animal-derived products such as dairy, egg, and honey.

Reference: “Vegetarian diet, growth, and nutrition in early childhood: A longitudinal cohort study” by Laura J. Elliott, RD, MSc; Charles D.G. Keown-Stoneman, PhD; Catherine S. Birken, MD, MSc, FRCPC; David J.A. Jenkins, MD, PhD, DSc, FRSC, FRCP, FRCPC; Cornelia M. Borkhoff, MSc, PhD; Jonathon L. Maguire, MD, MSc, FRCPC on behalf of the TARGet KIDS! COLLABORATION, 2 May 2022, Pediatrics.
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2021-052598

The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation and SickKids Foundation.



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Health

Vegetarian and meat-eating children have similar growth and nutrition but not weight, study finds

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“Over the last 20 years we have seen growing popularity of plant-based diets and a changing food environment with more access to plant-based alternatives, however we have not seen the research into the nutritional outcomes of children following vegetarian diets in Canada,” said Dr. Jonathon Maguire, the study’s lead author and a pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto, in a news release.

The authors used data from nearly 9,000 children who were between 6 months and 8 years old and had participated in the TARGet Kids! Cohort between 2008 and 2019. TARGet Kids! is a primary care practice-based research network and cohort study in Toronto. Details on the diets these children ate were according to their parents, who answered whether their children were vegetarian (which included vegans) or non-vegetarian.

During each health supervision visit over the years, research assistants for TARGet Kids! measured participants’ body-mass index, weight, height, cholesterol levels, triglycerides, vitamin D levels and serum ferritin levels. Ferritin is a cell protein that stores iron and enables the body to use iron when needed, so a ferritin test indirectly measures blood iron levels, according to Mount Sinai Health System.

At the beginning of the study, 248 children (including 25 vegans) were vegetarian, and 338 more children had become vegetarian sometime later during the study. Children were followed up with for nearly three years on average. There weren’t any significant differences between vegetarian and non-vegetarian children regarding standard BMI, height, serum ferritin levels and vitamin D levels.

However, vegetarian children were nearly twice as likely to be underweight than non-vegetarian children.

Being underweight can be a sign of malnutrition and can indicate that one’s diet isn’t enough to support appropriate growth, according to the study news release. Specific details about dietary intake or quality, and physical activity, weren’t available to the authors — which could influence growth and nutrition.

Studies with longer follow-up periods and information on motivations for eating vegetarian — such as socioeconomic status — would also be helpful for understanding links between children’s development and vegetarianism, the authors said.

The findings highlight “the need for careful dietary planning for children with underweight when considering vegetarian diets,” Maguire said.

“The kids that were underweight both in vegetarian and non-vegetarian (groups) were similar and were younger in age and of Asian descent,” said Amy Kimberlain, a registered dietitian nutritionist and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson. Kimberlain wasn’t involved in the study.

“Ethnicity could certainly have played a part in the weight finding,” said Dr. Maya Adam, a clinical assistant professor in the pediatrics department at Stanford School of Medicine, who wasn’t involved in the study.

The Asian children “were likely of East Indian descent, because this subset of the ‘Asian’ demographic box (which I also end up choosing as a person of Indian heritage) is much more likely to practice vegetarianism,” Adam said via email. “In India, children’s growth charts differ from US growth charts. An average 5-year-old girl in India is expected to weigh 17 kilograms and stand about 108 centimeters tall. In the US, an average 5-year-old girl of the same height is expected to weigh 18 kg.”

Regardless, “it’s important for kids to be monitored for their growth, regardless of their diet,” Kimberlain said. “A vegetarian diet can be a healthy choice for all kids. The key is making sure that it is well planned out. With the help of a registered dietitian nutritionist, kids’ growth can be monitored as well as their nutrients needs to ensure they are being adequately consumed.”

If you and your children are experimenting with eating vegetarian or vegan, having alternative options is important “in case one day they like something and the next day they don’t,” Kimberlain said.

Guidelines by country

When feeding babies and children a vegetarian diet, parents should ensure regular consumption of eggs, dairy products, soy products and nuts or seeds, in addition to vegetables, fruits, beans and lentils, grains and oils, the current US Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend.
Be extra careful to include foods rich in iron and vitamin B12, since plant-based sources of those nutrients are less bioavailable compared with animal foods. Different beans, dark leafy greens and sweet potatoes are iron-rich. And nutritional yeast, dairy products and cereals are some vitamin B12 sources. The guidelines have a graphic table on appropriate servings of each food group per day.
Canadian guidelines say a vegetarian diet can be adequate for children when milk and eggs are included.

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Science

Skull of ‘armless’ meat-eating dinosaur discovered

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The newfound dinosaur Guemesia ochoai may have looked a bit like this other abelisaurid illustrated here, the horned Carnotaurus sastrei.  (Image credit: Fred Wierum; CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Paleontologists in Argentina have uncovered an unusual dinosaur skull that belonged to an “armless,” tiny-brained carnivore that lived about 70 million years ago, a new study finds. 

The newfound species — named Guemesia ochoai for General Martín Miguel de Güemes, a hero of the Argentine War of Independence — is a member of Abelisauridae, a clade of carnivores that roamed what is now South America, Africa and India during the dinosaur age.

It’s possible that G. ochoai is a close relative of the ancestors of abelisaurids, the researchers said. However, G. ochoai is different from its abelisaurid relatives in two key ways: It lacks horns, perhaps because abelisaurid ancestors hadn’t evolved these pointy skewers yet; and it likely lived in what is now northern Argentina where its skull was found, far away from most abelisaurid remains in Patagonia, southern Argentina, suggesting that this dinosaur group could live in varied ecosystems.

“This new dinosaur is quite unusual for its kind,” study co-author Anjali Goswami, a research leader at the Natural History Museum in London, said in a statement. “It shows that the dinosaurs that live in this region were quite different from those in other parts of Argentina, supporting the idea of distinct provinces in the Cretaceous of South America.”

Related: Image gallery: Tiny-armed dinosaurs

Abelisaurids likely preyed on long-necked titanosaurs, an impressive feat given that their tiny arms were vestigial and essentially useless. They weren’t the only theropod — or bipedal, mostly meat-eating dinosaurs — with short arms. Tyrannosaurus rex has embarrassingly short arms for its stature, although its arms were longer than those of abelisaurids and unpublished research suggests that the dinosaur king could use its wee arms to bring prey in close.

With such puny arms, abelisaurids had to take down prey almost entirely with their skulls and fearsome jaws.

As this skeleton shows, Tyrannosaurus rex had puny arms. (Image credit: JaysonPhotography via Getty Images)

The skull is all that’s left of this G. ochoai individual. So, after researchers uncovered it in the Los Blanquitos Formation near Amblayo, they got to work studying it. The team analyzed the dinosaur’s well-preserved braincase, or the area where the brain sat. Like other abelisaurids, G. ochoai‘s braincase was small, indicating that it had a little brain. In fact, its entire cranium is about 70% smaller than its abelisaurid relatives, suggesting that this individual was a juvenile, although this matter is not yet settled. 

The research team of Argentine and U.K. scientists also noticed a unique feature called foramina, or rows of small holes at the front of the skull. These holes could have helped G. ochoai cool down when the animal pumped blood into the thin skin at the front of its head, where it could release heat, the researchers said.

There are already 35 other abelisaurid species described from Argentina, but nearly all of them are from Patagonia. The discovery of G. ochoai and other extraordinary paleo-species, such as a huge turtle with a 3-foot-long (1 meter) shell, in this northern region suggest that it was a unique part of the world during the late Cretaceous.

Researchers hope to discover more specimens of G. ochoai and its relatives so they can learn more about life in ancient Argentina. The study was published online Feb. 10 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 

Originally published on Live Science.

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Science

Meat-eating dinosaurs were terrifyingly fast, footprints reveal

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Three-toed, meat-eating dinosaurs may have sprinted as fast as a car driving on city streets, new research shows. That finding comes from analyzing the footprints these theropods left behind as they dashed over squishy lake bed mud tens of millions of years ago.

Two sets of fossilized footprints at a site in La Rioja, Spain show that the makers of the tracks were galloping along at speeds up to 27.7 mph (44.6 km/h), reaching “some of the top speeds ever calculated for theropod tracks,” according to the new study. 

According to researchers’ analysis of the tracks, one dinosaur sped up steadily and consistently as it ran, while the other quickly changed its speed while still on the move. Together, these two sets of footprints from the early part of the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago) offer a unique snapshot of dinosaur mobility and behavior. 

Related: In images: Tyrannosaur trackways

Paleontologists use several methods to calculate running speeds in extinct dinosaurs, said Pablo Navarro‐Lorbés, a researcher at the University of La Rioja in Logroño, Spain and lead author of the new study. One method builds biomechanical models based on dinosaur bones and limb proportions, “and the other main one is the speed estimation from tracks,” Navarro‐Lorbés told Live Science in an email.

One set of the La Rioja tracks, dubbed La Torre 6A-14, preserves five three-toed footprints that were each about 12.9 inches (32.8 centimeters) long and 11.9 inches (30.2 cm) wide. The other trackway, La Torre 6B-1, includes seven three-toed footprints that were a little smaller, measuring 11.4 inches (28.9 cm) long and 10.6 inches (26.9 cm) wide. Based on the size of the prints, hip height of the theropods would have been between 4 to 5 feet (1.1 to 1.4 meters), so the animals would have stood about 7 feet (2 m) tall and measured around 13 to 16 feet long (4 to 5 m) “from the snout to the tip of the tail,” Navarro‐Lorbés said.

While it isn’t possible to tell what genus of theropod made the tracks, similarities between the footprints hinted that the two dinosaurs belonged to the same taxonomic group, were non-avian — not one of the lineages directly related to modern birds — and were “very agile,” according to the study.

One of the footprints of the 6A tracksite. Scale bar is 10 centimeters. (Image credit: Pablo Navarro-Lorbés)

To calculate the theropods’ running speeds, the researchers used a formula that incorporated the dinosaurs’ hip heights and stride length. This enabled them to not only calculate the animals’ speed with every step but also detect speed variations “like acceleration or deceleration,” Navarro‐Lorbés explained. They found that the dinosaur that made the 6A-14 trackway reached just over 23 mph (37 km/h), while the speedier 6B-1 dinosaur scampered into the lead with a top speed of nearly 28 mph (45 km/h). 

By comparison, the fastest speed ever clocked in a human runner is 27.5 mph (44.3 km/h), which was achieved very briefly by the famed Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt in 2009, according to The New York Times.

But while Bolt’s running prowess has been well-documented, extinct dinosaurs aren’t so lucky. Trackways that can reveal their running speeds are exceptionally rare, so these footprints from northern Spain provided a unique opportunity for the researchers to corroborate theropod speed estimates that were previously produced by other scientists who were analyzing the animals’ bones, Navarro‐Lorbés said.

“Fast-running theropod tracks are scarce in the fossil record,” Navarro‐Lorbés said. “Being able to study them and confirm some other studies made from different approaches are great news for us.”

The findings were published online Thursday (Dec. 9) in the journal Nature.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Science

Footprints in Spain show meat-eating dinosaurs were fast and…

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By Will Dunham

Dec 9 (Reuters) – It almost is not fair. Carnivorous dinosaurs were armed with menacing teeth inside muscular jaws, wielded dangerous claws on their hands and feet, and boasted keen vision and sense of smell. And, as new research confirms, some were pretty fast, too.

Two trackways of Cretaceous Period fossilized footprints from about 120 million years ago discovered in northern Spain’s La Rioja region show that the medium-sized meat-eating dinosaur species that made them could run at about 28 miles per hour (45 kph), scientists said on Thursday.

This roughly matches the top speed achieved by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest human being.

Two trackways located about 65 feet (20 meters) apart were discovered, one with seven footprints and the other with five.

Each track – an impression of a three-toed foot with claws – measures around 12 inches (30 cm) long. They were made on the muddy surface of a lake plain in a region also populated by long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs, bipedal plant-eating dinosaurs, flying reptiles called pterosaurs, crocodiles, and turtles.

Speed only added to the arsenal of meat-eating dinosaurs like the species that left the footprints in Spain.

“Their capacity to run very quickly and their maneuvering abilities surely allowed them to chase prey very efficiently. And of course I wouldn’t like to be caught by this guy on a riverbank,” said Pablo Navarro-Lorbes, a paleontology doctoral student at Universidad de La Rioja in Spain and lead author of the research published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The footprints bore characteristics showing they were made by a theropod, a group encompassing all the meat-eating dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus rex. Theropods were bipedal, with the largest perhaps 50 feet (15 meters) long.

The researchers believe the trackways were made by two different individuals of the same species. They suspect it was from one of two theropod families: the spinosaurs, many of which were fish-eaters, or carcharodontosaurs, known for shark-like teeth. The individuals were about 13-16 feet (4-5 meters) long and 7 feet (2 meters) tall, weighing 440-660 pounds (200-300 kg).

Running speed was calculated based on the relationship between the animal’s hip height – estimated from the footprint length – and stride length. The stride length from one of the trackways was 18.3 feet (5.6 meters), while the other was 17.2 feet (5.2 meters).

One of the dinosaurs ran 19.7-27.7 miles per hour (31.7-44.6 kph) – among the highest speed ever estimated for a dinosaur – and the other at 14.5-23.1 miles per hour (23.4-37.1 kph). One trackway indicates a smooth increase in speed. The other suggests an animal maneuvering as it ran.

Universidad de La Rioja paleontologist and study co-author Angelica Torices said speed helped not only in hunting but in fleeing danger including “bigger theropods that could see them as their prey.”

Of the innumerable dinosaur tracks found worldwide, nearly all represent walking rather than running. The fastest estimated running speed based on footprints was a Jurassic Period theropod trackway in Utah at 34 miles per hour (55 km per hour).

Scientists also have calculated dinosaur speeds based on biomechanical models. The fastest using this method was the Jurassic turkey-sized theropod Compsognathus at 40 miles per hour (65 km per hour).

“There are several factors that dictate the running ability of a dinosaur,” Navarro-Lorbes said.

“One of them is size. Some paleontologists think that theropods with sizes between 100 and 1,000 kilograms (220-2,200 pounds) could have been some of the best dinosaur runners because of the relationship between their weight and muscular performance,” Navarro-Lorbes added, with elongated legs another key factor.

(Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Science

These meat-eating bees will haunt your nightmares

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Scientists have observed a little-known species of meat-eating bee that sports an extra tooth for biting flesh.

According to a recent paper on the bees, they use their extra tooth to pull and gather meat. Doug Yanega, an entomologist with UC Riverside says that these are the only bees in the world that have evolved beyond using food sources produced by plants.

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These meat-eating bees have guts like vultures

Typically, bees don’t rely on meat as a food source. However, these stingless bees in Costa Rica, have evolved. Not only do they have that extra tooth for eating flesh, but their guts also more closely resemble those of vultures.

“Unlike humans, whose gut changes with every meal, most bee species have retained these same bacteria over roughly 80 million years of evolution,” Jessica Maccaro, a UCR entomology doctoral student said. (via SciTechDaily)

Most stingless bees, as well as honeybees and bumblebees, all have the same five core microbes in their guts. The bacteria found in the gut of these bees, though, was much different from that of a typical vegetarian bee. One of the bacteria found in the bees is Lactobacillus. This is often found in fermented food, like sourdough. The scientists also found Carnobacterium, a bacteria associated with flesh digestion.

Digging deeper

A Trigona bee nest. Some of these bees eat meat, too. – Credit: megatmawardi/Adobe

megatmawardi/Adobe

The researchers headed to Costa Rica to get a closer look at the bees. Once there, they set up bait using raw chicken coated in petroleum jelly—to help keep ants away. Then they waited. The bait successfully attracted vulture bees and some related species of opportunistic meat-eating bees. Stingless bees normally have a basket on their hind legs for collecting pollen. Instead, these carrion-feeding bees used those baskets to collect the chicken.

To help add to the research, the scientists also collected stingless bees that feed on both meat and flowers. They also collected bees that feed only on pollen. They found that the microbiomes in the bees that exclusively eat meat harbored the most extreme changes.

Quinn, McFrederick, another UCR entomologist with the study, says that the vulture bee’s microbiome is enriched with acid-loving bacteria that the others don’t have. It’s similar to the microbiomes found in vultures, as well as other carrion-feeders like hyenas.

The scientists say that the honey produced by these meat-eating bees is still sweet and edible. The bees store the meat they gather in a separate area from the honey. Additionally, they keep those chambers sealed off for two weeks before they even access them. The researchers plan to dig deeper into the microbiomes of the vulture bees. They’re hopeful that they can learn more about the larger role those microbes play in the bee’s overall health.

See the original version of this article on BGR.com

Read original article here

Science

These meat-eating bees have acid in their guts

Leave a comment

Scientists have observed a little-known species of meat-eating bee that sports an extra tooth for biting flesh.

According to a recent paper on the bees, they use their extra tooth to pull and gather meat. Doug Yanega, an entomologist with UC Riverside says that these are the only bees in the world that have evolved beyond using food sources produced by plants.

These meat-eating bees have guts like vultures

Typically, bees don’t rely on meat as a food source. However, these stingless bees in Costa Rica, have evolved. Not only do they have that extra tooth for eating flesh, but their guts also more closely resemble those of vultures.

“Unlike humans, whose gut changes with every meal, most bee species have retained these same bacteria over roughly 80 million years of evolution,” Jessica Maccaro, a UCR entomology doctoral student said. (via SciTechDaily)

Most stingless bees, as well as honeybees and bumblebees, all have the same five core microbes in their guts. The bacteria found in the gut of these bees, though, was much different from that of a typical vegetarian bee. One of the bacteria found in the bees is Lactobacillus. This is often found in fermented food, like sourdough. The scientists also found Carnobacterium, a bacteria associated with flesh digestion.

Digging deeper

A Trigona bee nest. Some of these bees eat meat, too. Image source: megatmawardi/Adobe

The researchers headed to Costa Rica to get a closer look at the bees. Once there, they set up bait using raw chicken coated in petroleum jelly—to help keep ants away. Then they waited. The bait successfully attracted vulture bees and some related species of opportunistic meat-eating bees. Stingless bees normally have a basket on their hind legs for collecting pollen. Instead, these carrion-feeding bees used those baskets to collect the chicken.

To help add to the research, the scientists also collected stingless bees that feed on both meat and flowers. They also collected bees that feed only on pollen. They found that the microbiomes in the bees that exclusively eat meat harbored the most extreme changes.

Quinn, McFrederick, another UCR entomologist with the study, says that the vulture bee’s microbiome is enriched with acid-loving bacteria that the others don’t have. It’s similar to the microbiomes found in vultures, as well as other carrion-feeders like hyenas.

The scientists say that the honey produced by these meat-eating bees is still sweet and edible. The bees store the meat they gather in a separate area from the honey. Additionally, they keep those chambers sealed off for two weeks before they even access them. The researchers plan to dig deeper into the microbiomes of the vulture bees. They’re hopeful that they can learn more about the larger role those microbes play in the bee’s overall health.



Read original article here