Times of India·3 min read·medium

Fossil teeth suggest some dinosaurs ate seaweed over 100 million years ago

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Fossil teeth suggest some dinosaurs ate seaweed over 100 million years ago
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New research suggests that some dinosaurs living over 100 million years ago incorporated marine nutrients into their diets by eating seaweed washed ashore. Chemical analysis of fossil teeth provides evidence of a connection between marine and terrestrial food webs during the Cretaceous period.

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This discovery changes our understanding of ancient ecosystems and how land-based animals interacted with coastal environments.

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More than 100 million years ago, the boundary between land and sea may have been a little less distinct than it looks on a map. Along the ancient coastlines of North America, storms regularly swept marine material onto beaches, creating an unexpected source of food for animals living on land. A new research suggests that some dinosaurs and the animals they fed on may have taken advantage of this coastal buffet, incorporating nutrients that ultimately came from the ocean into their bodies. The finding offers evidence that marine and terrestrial food webs were connected during the Cretaceous, much as they are in some coastal ecosystems today, states a news report by Phys Org. Scroll down to read the interesting details of the findings.Following the carbon trailThe study, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, examined the chemical signatures preserved in fossil teeth.

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