Dinosaur Bone Study Reveals That Not All Giants Grew Alike
upstart writes:
When the paleontologist Michael D'Emic cut into the bones of Majungasaurus, a relative of Tyrannosaurus rex that roamed Madagascar 70 million years ago, he suspected that surprises might be hiding in them. But what he found defied all expectations.
Majungasaurus adults measured up to 7 meters from snout to tail and could weigh 1,000 kilograms. Paleontologists had thought that big dinosaurs like these massive carnivores achieved their stature through rapid growth spurts. But the fossil bones revealed a different story. "Unlike carnivorous dinosaurs that had been studied up until then," D'Emic said, the Majungasaurus grew "really, really slowly."
Puzzled, he sliced up a close relative of the dinosaur - a Ceratosaurus from North America, which was roughly the same length and weight - to see if it grew slowly too. This time, "we got the opposite result," he said. "It grew just about faster than any carnivorous dinosaur I've ever seen."
What followed for D'Emic was a decade-long whirlwind of peering at bones for clues to how dinosaurs grew. His analysis of 42 different dinosaur species, recently published in Science, demonstrates that the "get big fast" mode of growth was less predominant than researchers have assumed.
[...] Whether an animal grows quicker and faster or slower and longer might seem like a nitpicky distinction. But an animal's growth trajectory provides insights into its life and the world it inhabited. Fast-growing animals can overpower potential predators and outcompete other species, but they need plenty of food and other resources. Growing slowly is riskier, but it allows an animal to survive on less during hard times. The bones of Majungasaurus, for example, confirm that, as the top predator in its ancient ecosystem, it had the luxury of developing at a leisurely pace.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.