Wednesday, September 20, 2006

 

The Cannibal Coelophysis: Dinosaur's reputation challenged

Chinle Formation Triassic Upper ghost ranch New Mexico (Evolution Research: John Latter / Jorolat)

BBC News UK: A US study has bruised the fearsome reputation of a popular dinosaur.

Coelophysis, a carnivore that lived more than 200 million years ago, has often been presented in books and museum exhibits as a cannibal.

The view is based on Coelophysis fossils that have preserved stomach contents interpreted as being the chewed up remains of its own kind.

But now a re-examination has suggested those contents may be crocodile, a Royal Society journal reports. [Evolution, bauri, Cannibal, Dinosaurs]
--
Based on the 'Biology Letters' open access paper "Prey choice and cannibalistic behaviour in the theropod Coelophysis" (pdf)

Books on Dinosaurs from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

Books on Paleontology from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

technorati tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Add to: CiteUlike | Connotea | Del.icio.us | Digg | Furl | Newsvine | Reddit | Yahoo