NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Using and vomit samples from Poland, scientists have reconstructed how dinosaurs came to millions of years ago.
Researchers aren't sure whether dinosaurs' rise over the course of 30 million years happened because of luck, skill, climate or some combination. But they came away knowing this: 鈥淚t was not a sudden thing,鈥� said study co-author Martin Qvarnstr枚m from Uppsala University.
, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, analyzed hundreds of dino droppings to reconstruct who was eating whom 200 million years ago.
The first dinosaurs were go-getters, Qvarnstr枚m said, eating whatever they could 鈥� including insects, fish and plants.
When climate conditions changed, they were quick to adapt. Plant-eating dinosaurs, for example, ate a greater variety of greens than other vegetarians of the time, so it was easier to expand their palates when wetter conditions gave rise to new plant species.
Since the study鈥檚 findings were limited to Polish fossils, Qvarnstr枚m said he鈥檇 like to see if their ideas hold steady against fossil records from around the world.
It's not uncommon for scientists to study ancient fecal matter to understand creatures of the past, said Emma Dunne, a paleobiologist at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. But fossilized feces can resemble blobs or chunks of rock, and they are not always found near fossils of the animal that made them 鈥� which makes it hard for scientists to know where they came from.
In this study, researchers found fish scales, insect bits and bone shards nestled within the droppings.
鈥淭hey are a really unassuming, quite plain part of the background,鈥� said Dunne, who was not involved with the new research. 鈥淏ut they hold so much delicate, fine information.鈥�
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute鈥檚 Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Adithi Ramakrishnan, The Associated Press
