Dinosaur means “terrible lizard.” The idea that the prehistoric creatures were scaly, sluggish reptiles with sprawling postures that dragged their tails through tropical swamps is deeply imprinted in the collective imagination.
However, science now has a more nuanced understanding of the diversity of dinosaur physiology. Many dinosaurs sported brightly colored feathers like birds. Dinos lived in many different ecosystems, including the Arctic, where they would have encountered snow (if not the ice caps of today) and winters devoid of light.
New research this week is adding fresh detail to one of paleontology’s biggest questions: Did dinosaur blood run hot or cold?
It’s hard to find evidence that unquestionably shows what dinosaur metabolisms were like. Clues from fossilized eggshells and bones have now suggested that some dinosaurs were warm-blooded and others were not.
Gleaning the answer matters because it sheds light on dinosaur behavior. Warm-blooded animals, such as mammals and birds, are more active than their cold-blooded counterparts.
A new study, based on fossils from 1,000 dinosaur species and paleoclimate information, found that the three main dinosaur groups adapted differently, with two of the groups evolving the ability to regulate body temperature in the early Jurassic Period about 180 million years ago.
The research suggested that meat-eating theropods, which included T. rex, and plant-eating ornithischians, such as Triceratops and Stegosaurus, spread to live in colder climates during the early Jurassic Period, indicating that they may have evolved the ability to generate body heat internally.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
