/ / What was the herbivorous dinosaur

What was the herbivorous dinosaur

Filmed images of the "era of dinosaurs"convince us that the vast majority of these lizards were predators. However, even the initial knowledge of biology calls into question this point of view. In modern nature, to feed a fairly small number of carnivorous animals, the number of herbivores must be several times larger - otherwise the predators will simply die out from hunger. An example is the regions where with the reduction of the population of herbivorous species began a massive death of predators.

herbivore dinosaur

It is unlikely that the situation was different in times of giganticlizards. And although the movie looks more spectacular, for example, the attack of an evil predator, there is no doubt that the species of herbivorous dinosaurs were much more diverse and more numerous than the "community" of predators.

Name errors

In general, dinosaur misconceptions,abound. This is not surprising: they lived long before the advent of mankind, reliable evidence of them is a paleontological survey, so you have to correctly describe what you see! Even in the scientific name of the most famous (mainly because of the unimaginable size) of these lizards - samopods - an error has already been laid. From Latin, the name can be translated as "dinosaurs with lizards legs." At the same time, the paws of these animals are closer to the elephant's limbs, since they had to carry a very difficult carcass - from 10 to 40 tons. However, the name stuck.

herbivorous dinosaur species

Even the name "herbivorous" dinosaur deservesnot every representative of the ancient fauna. Yet most of them differed by no means small in size, so that, rather, these giants were tree-eaters, in extreme cases - herbivorous. They rather could not even see the grass from the height of their height.

Variety of sizes

Since dinosaurs "ruled the world" duringtens of millions of years, the "herbivorous dinosaur" breeds generated a lot. Some people know more, some less. The sizes of these animals also varied greatly. A dwarf dinosaur named Hesperonicus Elizabeth was half a meter long and weighed less than a cat - two kilos. In second place in minimalism is comptsognath, three-quarters of a meter in length and three kilograms in weight. It is worth noting, however, that both “midgets” belonged to predators, although they ate different small animals.

herbivorous dinosaurs titles

Causes of gigantism and features of the external structure

But any average herbivorethe dinosaur was just distinguished by its gigantic proportions. This is not surprising: in those days it was the most reliable way to protect themselves from the attack of a carnivorous aggressor. First, with such growth, not every predator will jump to vital organs. Secondly, the tails turned out to be reliable batons, a well-aimed blow of which reliably poured the aggressor. Thirdly, with such dimensions, it is possible to have additional armor and weapons - horns, protective plates, etc. Fourth, all types of herbivorous dinosaurs were herd animals, which increased their chances of survival. However, modern lives are not herd predators.

Besides, the herbivorous dinosaur got from evolutionadditional bonus: the main acting brain was located not in his head, but in the sacrum. A small amount of "gray matter" in the skull served primarily to control the eyes. But the sacral brain was 20 times more and was responsible for everything else. As a result, the zauropods differed in a very small skull, which is confirmed by the excavations and illustrated by pictures of herbivorous dinosaurs.

pictures of herbivorous dinosaurs

Abundance of species - the result of food

Scientists have found that great diversityspecies of herbivorous dinosaurs due to the fact that they did not intersect the "food zone". Each of the sauropods preferred their diet. Even if they were grazing on one type of vegetation, someone preferred branches from treetops, and someone (of more modest size) was eating a growth or a fern at the foot. Moreover, some of the dinosaurs fed on only one type of tree, which completely excluded competition.

The most famous herbivorous dinosaurs, nameswhich are familiar even to children, lived mainly in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Among them are brachiosaurus, iguanodon, diplodocus and stegosaurus. All of them - the giants, but in the first place paleontologists put the Argentinozavra. It was the largest herbivorous dinosaur, the weight of which sometimes exceeded 60 tons. The second place is occupied by a brachiosaurus weighing 50 thousand kilograms.

Transformation of predators

Distribution "predator - herbivorous dinosaur",corresponding to the modern ratio of carnivorous and herbivorous, is confirmed by the research of Chicago scientists, who found that most of the tserurazavrov were either herbivorous, or evolved from predators into them. This suggests a good adaptive capacity, which was inherent in dinosaurs - there was a lack of animal food, they "retrained" for vegetarian food. Interestingly, in the process of transformation, many of them lost fangs and other teeth, and their muzzle was transformed into a beak.

the largest herbivore dinosaur

New type of herbivore dinosaur

It would seem that the study of sauropods has been going on for more than two centuries; all dinosaur deposits on Earth should have been found already. However, paleontologists are still surprising discoveries.

Pennsylvania scientists from 1998 to 2000discovered a previously not described dinosaur, which was given the name Suuwassea emilieae. It is assumed that he was a "relative" of Diplodocus. Researchers, however, were already greatly interested in the modifications of the legs of the grouper, which are visible along the bones, as well as the incomprehensible hole in the skull. Previously, such holes were found in only three types of dinosaurs.

So there are still riddles posed by extinct lizards and not yet solved by scientists.

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