These Dinosaurs Evolved To Be Warm-Blooded During The Jurassic Period
Around 180 million years ago, two major groups of dinosaurs evolved the ability to regulate their body temperatures, making them warm-blooded creatures.
In the past, scientists assumed that all dinosaurs were cold-blooded, which means their body temperatures were determined by their surroundings.
However, recent findings have revealed that some dinosaurs were actually warm-blooded, although researchers have been unable to confirm when exactly they developed this trait.
The latest study published in the journal Current Biology suggests that a group of mostly carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods and plant-eating dinosaurs called ornithischians developed warm-bloodedness during the early Jurassic period. The adaptation may have arisen due to global warming caused by volcanic eruptions.
Warm-blooded animals, such as birds and mammals, can regulate and maintain constant body temperatures through the energy they receive from food.
They can easily produce heat within their bodies by shivering or cool themselves off by panting, sweating, and dilating the blood vessels. This lets them survive in a wide range of environments.
In contrast, cold-blooded animals, like reptiles and fish, must move to different environments to either cool down or warm themselves up.
They depend on external sources to maintain their body temperatures, so they might sit in the sun for warmth or go for a dip in the water if they’re too hot.
Researchers investigated the geographic spread of dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era, which lasted from around 252 million to 66 million years ago. To do so, they studied 1,000 fossils, climate models, and evolutionary trees of dinosaurs.
Akkharat J. – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
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They discovered that theropods and ornithischians inhabited areas with wide-ranging climates. During the early Jurassic period, these two species relocated to colder regions, indicating that they could produce their own body heat.
On the other hand, long-necked sauropods were found to stay in areas with higher temperatures, which suggested that they were cold-blooded.
When volcanic eruptions led to global warming and caused some plant species to become extinct, the event triggered the evolution of warm-bloodedness in the two groups of dinosaurs.
“The adoption of endothermy, perhaps a result of this environmental crisis, may have enabled theropods and ornithischians to thrive in colder environments, allowing them to be highly active and sustain activity over longer periods, to develop and grow faster, and produce more offspring,” said Alfio Allesandro Chiarenza, a co-author of the study.
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