Fossil discovery suggests sauropods didn't chew their food
Scientists say they've made an interesting discovery about one of the largest dinosaurs that ever roamed Earth.A team of experts took a closer look at the fossilised stomach contents of a 95-million-year-old sauropod - nicknamed Judy.They found that the dino ate leaves from tall conifer trees as well as smaller seed ferns and flowering plants.Their research also suggests that the sauropod barely chewed its meals due to the size of the pieces of food inside its body.
What did scientists discover?
The group of scientists, lead by Curtin University in Australia, decided to study the fossilised stomach contents of a sauropod that was originally found in 2017 in the Australian state of Queensland.The dinosaur, a species called Diamantinasaurus matildae, was nicknamed Judy by researchers.What made this discovery unique, was that Judy's stomach contents had been well preserved, revealing for the first time in detail what it ate.The team's research found that the dinos snacked on a variety of plants from various heights above the ground, and that this helped their long-term success.Lead researcher Dr Stephen Poropat explained: "We also confirmed that sauropods were bulk-feeders – a method still used by herbivorous reptiles and birds today. "This means they would not have chewed their food, instead swallowing it whole and letting their digestive system do the rest of the work," he said. Therefore, sauropods would have relied on fermentation in its guts to process the food it ate.Dr Poropat added that food could have stayed in the dinosaur's digestive system for "up to two weeks" and that discovering what sauropods ate is critical to understanding their "impact on Earth's ecosystems" throughout that time.
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