Biomechanics of running indicates endothermy in bipedal dinosaurs.

ABSTRACT:

Background

One of the great unresolved controversies in paleobiology is whether extinct dinosaurs were endothermic, ectothermic, or some combination thereof, and when endothermy first evolved in the lineage leading to birds. Although it is well established that high, sustained growth rates and, presumably, high activity levels are ancestral for dinosaurs and pterosaurs (clade Ornithodira), other independent lines of evidence for high metabolic rates, locomotor costs, or endothermy are needed. For example, some studies have suggested that, because large dinosaurs may have been homeothermic due to their size alone and could have had heat loss problems, ectothermy would be a more plausible metabolic strategy for such animals.

Methodology/principal findings

Here we describe two

SUBMITTER: Pontzer H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2772121 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature