Dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded animals

(Image source: Reproduction / Wikipedia)

According to a report published by Live Science, a group of scientists at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​Spain, presented a new study suggesting that dinosaurs may actually have been warm-blooded animals, like mammals.

Researchers focused their research on the growth lines present in the bones of these animals to determine their rate of development. Such lines are similar to those we see in trees, for example. Thus, thinner and darker lines represent slower growth than lighter and wider lines.

Hot or cold?

To the best of our knowledge, only the bones of cold-blooded animals showed such lines because of their intermittent growth, unlike warm-blooded animals, which show more continuous growth.

However, after analyzing the bones of a group of wild ruminants (warm-blooded animals), the researchers also found such lines that, moreover, were very similar to those found in dinosaur bones.

According to the researchers, this incredible similarity may indicate that dinosaurs should have a fairly rapid growth rate, which would require them to eat a lot to maintain their internal temperature. This feature, too, would point to the possibility that they were warm-blooded creatures.

Source: Live Science