'Skin Bones' Helped Large Dinosaurs Survive for a Time, Study Finds
University of Guelph [Canada], November 29, 2011
Bones contained entirely within the skin of some of the largest
dinosaurs on Earth might have stored vital minerals to help the massive
creatures survive and bear their young in tough times, according to new
research by a team including a University of Guelph scientist. Guelph
biomedical scientist Matthew Vickaryous co-authored a paper published
today in Nature Communications about two sauropod dinosaurs — an adult
and a juvenile — from Madagascar. The study suggests that these
long-necked plant-eaters used hollow "skin bones" called osteoderms to
store minerals needed to maintain their huge skeletons and to lay large
egg clutches. Sediments around the fossils show that the dinosaurs'
environment was highly seasonal and semi-arid, with periodic droughts
causing massive die-offs.
http://www.uoguelph.ca/news/2011/11/skin_bones_help.html
Also:
Pictures: "Gorgeous" Dinosaur Nest Found Full of Babies
National Geographic News, November 29, 2011
A nest full of fossilized dinosaur babies has been discovered in
Mongolia, and the find has paleontologists reexamining styles of
parental care among the ancient reptiles. The approximately
75-million-year-old nest shows 15 juvenile members of Protoceratops
andrewsi—a relative of Triceratops—entombed in ancient sand dune
deposits. The nest was recently discovered by Mongolian paleontologist
Pagmin Narmandakh in the region's Djadokhta formation. The 2.3-foot-wide
(0.7-meter-wide) nest is breathtaking, according to David Fastovsky, a
co-author on a paper about the dinosaur nest published in the November
edition of the Journal of Paleontology.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/pictures/111129-dinosaurs-nest-babies-egg-mongolia-ancient-parents-pictures/
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