Nodosaur’s ‘exquisitely’ preserved stomach contents reveal last meal
The armored dinosaur known as the Borealopelta markmitchelli — a nodosaur — was the subject of a study recently published in Royal Society Open Science. The researchers focused on the best-preserved nodosaur specimen, finding preserved stomach contents that reveal what this particular dinosaur ate. The stomach contents had around the same mass as a soccer ball and are described as “exquisitely-preserved.”
According to the researchers, it is quite rare to get well-preserved stomach contents from a dinosaur fossil; they provide a better idea of what the dinosaur ate compared to preserved feces. When it comes to herbivorous dinosaurs, the researchers say there are less than a dozen discovered fossils that contain preserved food remains.
In those cases, though, the researchers explain that most of the preserved stomach contents still don’t shed much light on what the dinosaurs ate. That changes with this new study, which provides what the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology calls ‘the most detailed and conclusive direct evidence of diet’ in these particular dinosaurs.
What did this particular nodosaur eat? The study found evidence of flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, as well as clubmosses, gerns, liverwort, and burnt plant material likely caused by a wildfire. The study also found small stones in the dinosaur’s stomach, which would have been intentionally consumed to help the body break down and digest the plant matter.
Breaking it all down, the study found that 88-percent of the stomach contents in this dinosaur were leaves, while another 7-percent were twigs and plant stems. Ferms seemed to be the main component of this creature’s last meal and, among other things, the stems indicate the dinosaur died sometime during late spring or the middle of summer.
Most interesting of all, the study notes that this nodosaur appeared to be a picky eater and only went for a certain type of fern, one still found in many places around the world today.
Here’s what Russia’s 2020 disinformation operations look like, according to two experts on social media and propaganda. By DARREN LINVILL & PATRICK WARREN Internet trolls don’t troll. Not the professionals at least. Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry. They don’t lack basic English language skills. They certainly aren’t “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,” as the president once put it. Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy. Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand them — and take them seriously. MORE: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russia-troll-2020-election-interference-twitter-916482/ Posted by Jamie B.
The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term (Photo: Photos: Getty Images) Americans will almost certainly go to bed on Nov. 3 without knowing who won the presidential election. Since millions of people will vote by mail, constraints on time and resources will slow ballot counting into potentially a weeks-long process. Voting patterns suggest it’s likely that President Donald Trump could end Election Day in the lead in certain key states, only to be overtaken by Democratic opponent Joe Biden when more votes are tallied. This could create a nightmare scenario during the three months stretching from Election Day to the Jan. 20 inauguration: a battle on the state and congressional level over who is the legitimate winner. This could include Congress reconvening on Jan. 6, presided over by Vice President Mike Pence , with no consensus over its potential role in choosing the next president. This is arguably the most likely of th
Here is an interesting question in my list of philosophical questions: 1.) Should governments have penalties for those who live unhealthy lifestyles? A list of unhealthy lifestyles would include things like smoking, drinking, illegal drugs, prostitution, and other “vice” type activities. I guess the “government penalties” would be referring to monetary punishments, withholding medical treatments (insurance companies would love that), possibly imposing/regulating very high (exorbitant) prices on things considered unhealthy in order to cut down on their use, and other possibilities. 2.) Or, would you say that living an unhealthy lifestyle, likely resulting in a LOT of eventual personal pain and suffering, should be punishment enough for unhealthy lifestyles? When people make bad choices in life, often in their youth where ignorance and immediate gratification takes them over, 3.) Should a society be obligated to help "fix" them, by way of tax money? Is that part of
Comments
Post a Comment