by They are probably familiar with classic Suropod dinosaurs-four-legged herbal blinings, which are famous for their long necks and cocks. Animals like BrachiosaurusPresent Apatosaurus And Diplodocus Standard performances have been in science museums since the 19th century.
With their little brain and huge bodies, these creatures are for a long time the poster children for animals that are intended to be extinct. However, the recent discoveries have completely rewritten the veneering of the veneering.
I study a less well -known group of Suropod dinosaurs – the Titanosaur or “Titanic Repiles”. Instead of being extinct, Titanosaur flourished long after the disappeared cousins. Not only were they large and responsible on all seven continents, but also kept their own festival in the middle of the newly developed duck bar and hearing stinosaurs until an asteroid hit the earth and ended the age of the dinosaurs.
The secret of the remarkable biological success of Titanosaur can be how they bring together the best of reptile and mammalian properties in order to form a unique lifestyle.
Moving with the continents
The Titanosaurs come from the early Cretaceous period almost 126 million years ago at a time when many of the land masses of the earth were much closer together than today.
In the next 75 million to 80 million years, the continents slowly separated, and the titanosaurs drove together with the changing formations worldwide.
There were almost 100 types of titanosaurs who made up more than 30% of the well -known Sauropod dinosaurs. They varied greatly in size. Of the largest known sauropods that have ever been discovered, including ArgentinosaurusPresent Patagotitan And Futalognkosaurusits weight over 60 tons (54.4 tons) exceeded and larger than a semi -truck, to the smallest known sauropods, including RinconsaurusPresent Saltaaurus And Magyarosauruswhich were only about 6 tons (5.4 tons) and about the size of an African elephant.
Babies to titan
Like many reptiles, Titanosaurs started life comparatively tiny and did not broke eggs greater than grapefruits.
The best data on Titanosaur nests and eggs come from a location in Argentina called Auca Mahuevo with 75 million years old, exposed stones. The position contains hundreds of petrified nests that contain thousands of eggs, some of which are so well preserved, scientists have obtained skin impressions of old embryos.
The sheer number of nests that were found together in several geological layers indicate that titanosaurs have repeatedly returned to this point to lay their eggs. The nests are so closely distributed that it is unlikely that an adult titanosaurs would be able to move freely through the nesting site. Titanosaurs probably had a trade-off education style, similar to many reptiles that were numerous eggs and do not spend much time to take care of the nest or to take care of young animals.
A Titanosaur swallow would have been about 1 meter tall and 3 feet long and 5 to 10 pounds (2.5-5 kg). The latest evidence from a location in Madagascar indicates that these tiny titans were ready to rumble.
Fossilized bones of the species Rapetosaurus Suggest that at the time when you had only been a knee -high gross for a modern person, you would have probably been fought for yourself. Microscopic details that were recorded deep within the bones Rapetosaurus Probably blessed independently for plants and moved much more cut than their cumbersome adults.
For the first century of the dinosaurs science, paleontologists Titanosaur introduced themselves as huge, overgrown reptiles – and used reptile growth rates to predict their milestones. In this slowly growing model, even the smallest Titanosaurs needed almost a century to reach their full size, which means that they would have been relatively small for a good part of their lives. New evidence indicates that this growth pattern is unlikely.
Scientists like me study the bones of the titanosaurs with high magnification in order to better understand their growth. We look at the microscopic patterns of bone minerals as well as the density and architecture of the rooms, which contained blood vessels and cells.
The denser the blood supply is for a bone, the faster the animal grows. These signatures are also present in living animals and can precisely reflect growth rates, anomalies and even old age.
Bone data show that the growth rates of the titanosaurs with mammals such as whales – much, much faster than any living reptile – correspond to that means that they have reached their enormous adult sizes in a few decades. Scientists can not safely know how long titanosaurs lived, but based on large land animals that live today, the titanosaurs may have lived 60 or more years.
Driven by plants
The fast growth rates of Sauropods were partly due to their body temperatures. By examining the chemistry of petrified teeth and egg shells, scientists have found that Titanosaurs had body temperatures of around 95 to 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit (35 to 38 degrees Celsius). This is higher than that of crocodiles and alligators, approximately the same as modern mammals and slightly lower than most birds, the body of which can regularly become up to 104 f (40 ° C).
The rapid growth rates of the titanosaurs were also powered by their amazing appetite on plants. Microscopic patterns of scratches, wear and mine on their teeth indicate that titanosaurs in Argentina are fed with a diverse diet that are rich in grains, which indicates that they are dining on plants that have been found lower to the ground, where sediment are found more often.
In India, parts of fossilized feces, which are also known as Coprolitical, show Titanosaurs there everything that has been absorbed on the way to the leaves and branches of trees from floor level.
Like all dinosaurs, titanosaurs replaced their teeth throughout life. However, the data show that you have replaced every tooth for maximum efficiency every 20 days, one of the highest denture rates known for dinosaurs.
If it hadn’t been for asteroid impact 66 million years ago, these durable, incredibly diverse and wild animals would probably have continued to thrive in places such as Madagascar, Romania, North America and even Antarctic. Instead, Titanosaurs were one of the witnesses and victims of the recent mass extinction of the earth.
This article will be released from the conversation, a non -profit, independent news organization that brings you facts and trustworthy analyzes to help you understand our complex world. It was written by: Kristi Curry Rogers, Macalester College
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Kristi Curry Rogers receives funds from the National Science Foundation and David B. Jones Foundation.
