Dinosaur digestive aids.Dinosaur digestive aids Paleontologists rarely find hard evidence concerning the internal organs of extinct animals because fossilization fos·sil·ize v. fos·sil·ized, fos·sil·iz·ing, fos·sil·iz·es v.tr. 1. To convert into a fossil. 2. To make outmoded or inflexible with time; antiquate. v.intr. usually does not preserve soft tissue. But an excavation in New Mexico of the largest known dinosaur has unearthed Unearthed is the name of a Triple J project to find and "dig up" (hence the name) hidden talent in regional Australia. Unearthed has had three incarnations - they first visited each region of Australia where Triple J had a transmitter - 41 regions in all. unusual clues about this animal's digestive tract digestive tract n. See alimentary canal. Digestive tract The organs that perform digestion, or changing of food into a form that can be absorbed by the body. . David D. Gillette and his colleagues have discovered about 180 small stones buried right next to the skeleton of a seismosaurus Noun 1. Seismosaurus - genus of large herbivorous dinosaurs of Cretaceous found in western North America genus Seismosaurus reptile genus - a genus of reptiles family Titanosauridae, Titanosauridae - herbivorous dinosaurs of the Cretaceous , a 140- to 160-foot-long diplodocid dinosaur that they have been excavating for five years. Most of the smooth, rounded stones are the size of a plum, although their diameters range from a small as a dime to as large as a grapefruit. Gillette, Utah's state paleontologist, identifies the rocks as gastroliths -- so called "stomach stones" that certain animals hold within their digestive tract to grind food. Paleontologists often treat report of gastroliths skeptically because rivers can produce very similar stones. But the seismosaurus skeleton lies in a sandstone that contains no other rocks or pebbles aside from the ones found next to the bones. The researchers even uncovered some stones buried within the seismosaurus' rib cage. The stones were arranged in two distinct clusters: one smaller group near the pelvic region, and a larger assemblage near the base of the neck. The region between these groups contained no stones. The placement of the stones indicates seismosaurus had a crop and a gizzard gizzard the muscular stomach of the bird, separated from the more cranial proventriculus or glandular stomach by a constriction. Called also ventriculus. green gizzard , somewhat similar to the organs in many modern birds, suggests Gillette. He says it therefore appears that as the dinosaur swallowed, its diet of plant material would pass from the crop - where gastroliths ground it - to a gastrolith-free stomach where digestive enzymes attacked the food, then into the gizzard for more grinding, and finally into the intestines. The one grapefruit-sized gastrolith gas·tro·lith n. A pathological concretion formed in the stomach. Also called gastric calculus. gastrolith a calculus in the stomach. puzzles Gillette because all the other rocks have far smaller diameters. He speculates that ingestion ingestion /in·ges·tion/ (-chun) the taking of food, drugs, etc., into the body by mouth. in·ges·tion n. 1. The act of taking food and drink into the body by the mouth. 2. of the huge stone may explain the death of this seismosaurus, which otherwise appeared healthy. |
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