Published 14:58 IST, June 5th 2020
Fossilised remains reveal dinosaur’s last meal it ate 110 million years ago
An armoured dinosaur devoured a meal of tender ferns in western Canada before suffering a sudden death or perhaps drowning in a river or flash flood.
An armoured dinosaur devoured a meal of tender ferns in western Canada before suffering a sudden death or perhaps drowning in a river or flash flood. According to a research published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the dinosaur, called Borealopelta markmitchelli, from the Cretaceous Period, gave an inside into the diet of the plant-eating dinosaurs. The scientists revealed that the fossilised stomach contents of the animal were preserved in exquisite detail with its skeleton which helped them find the ‘menu’ for its last meal.
As per the research, the fossil, from the province of Alberta, represents the best-preserved stomach contents of any plant-eating dinosaur. The fossil also helped in revealing the cellular structure of the leaves and intact spores. The palaeontologist Caleb Brown of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, who is the lead author of the research, said that the direct evidence of diet in herbivorous dinosaurs is very rare. Brown added that almost everything the scientist think and know about the diet of such animals is based on indirect data such as tooth wear, jaw biomechanics, the available plants and the nutritional content and digestibility of those plants.
The research explained that the Borealopelta was 18 feet long and 1-1/2 tons. They were a member of a group called nodosaurs. They had a wide body, small head and walked on four short legs. Furthermore, the research said that as protection from large meat-eating dinosaurs, the body was studded with osteoderms, bones embedded in the skin, and it also had a large spike on each shoulder.
While talking about its stomach, the researchers noted that the contents were comprised mostly of leaves of a particular type of fern, with very few leaves of conifers and cycads. A sizeable amount of charcoal was also found in the stomach which indicated that the dinosaur was growing in a recently burned area. Moreover, the scientists also found dozens of gastroliths, or gizzard stones, swelled by certain animals including some modern birds and crocodilians to aid digestion.
Asteroid that led to extinction of dinosaurs
While not much is known about dinosaurs, according to another research, it was revealed that astronomers have found that the asteroid which led to the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago hit Earth at the "deadliest possible" angle, at 200-kilometre (125 miles) Chicxulub crater in present-day Mexico. The study revealed the trajectory and direction of the impact of the asteroid on Earth. The asteroid unleashed billions of tons of sulphur into the atmosphere, blocking the sun, and causing a nuclear winter that solely wiped out the existence of the dinosaurs and overall 75 per cent of life on Earth.
(Image: @Brown_Caleb_M/Twitter)
Updated 14:58 IST, June 5th 2020