What was the herbivorous dinosaur

The film-inspired images of the "dinosaur era" convince us that the vast majority of these pangolins were predators. However, even the initial knowledge of biology casts doubt on this point of view. In modern nature to feed quite a few carnivores, the number of herbivores should be more than several times - otherwise predators will simply die of hunger. An example is the regions where, with a reduction in the population of herbivorous species, the mass mortality of predators began.

It is unlikely that the situation was different at the time of the giant lizards. 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 numerous than the "community" of predators.

Errors in the title

In general, there are plenty of misconceptions related to dinosaurs. This is not surprising: they lived long before the appearance of mankind, reliable evidence of them - paleontological research, so after all, it is also necessary to correctly describe what you saw! Even in the scientific name of the most famous (mainly because of the unimaginable size) of these lizards - sauropods - is already a mistake. From Latin the name can be translated as "dinosaurs with legs of lizards". In this case, the paws of these animals are closer to the elephant extremities, since they had to carry a very difficult carcase - from 10 to 40 tons. However, the name caught on.

Even the name of the "herbivorous" dinosaur is not deserved by any representative of the ancient fauna. Yet most of them differed by no small size, so rather, these giants were arborescens, at the very least - herbivorous. They could not even see the grass from the height of their growth.

Variety of sizes

Since dinosaurs "ruled the world" for tens of millions of years, the "herbivorous dinosaur" produced a lot of "rocks." Some are more familiar to people, some less. The size of these animals was also very different. A dinosaur dwarf named Hesperonikus Elizabeth was half a meter long and weighed less than a cat - two kilos. In second place in the minimalism - kompognat, three quarters of a meter long and three kilograms in weight. It should be noted, however, that both "Lilliputians" were predators, although they fed on various small animals.

Causes of gigantism and features of the external structure

But any average herbivorous dinosaur was just different from the giant proportions. This is not surprising: in those days it was the most reliable way to protect yourself from the attack of the carnivorous aggressor. First, with such growth, not every predator will jump to the vital organs. Secondly, the tails proved to be reliable truncheons, the accurate impact of which reliably drove the aggressor. Thirdly, at such sizes, it is possible to have additional armor and weapons - horns, protective plates, etc. Fourth, all species of herbivorous dinosaurs were herd animals, which increased their chances of survival. However, the herd live and not modern predators.

In addition, the herbivorous dinosaur received an additional bonus from evolution: the main acting brain was located in his head, not in his head, but in the sacrum. A small amount of "gray matter" in the skull served primarily for eye management. But the sacral brain was 20 times more and was responsible for everything else. As a result, the sauropods were distinguished by a very small skull, which is confirmed by excavation and illustrated pictures of herbivorous dinosaurs.

The abundance of species is the result of nutrition

Scientists have established that the great variety of varieties of herbivorous dinosaurs is due to the fact that they did not have "feeding zones" intersecting. Each of the sauropods preferred their diet. Even if they grazed on one kind of vegetation, someone preferred branches from the tops of trees, and someone (more modest sizes) ate the fern or fern at the foot. Moreover, some of the dinosaurs ate only one species of trees, which completely ruled out competition.

The most famous herbivorous dinosaurs, whose names are familiar even to children, lived mainly in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Among them are the brachiosaurus, iguanodon, diplodocus and stegosaurus. All of them are giants, but in the first place paleontologists have supplied argentinosaurus. It was the largest herbivorous dinosaur, the mass of which sometimes exceeded 60 tons. The second place is occupied by a brachiosaurus with a weight of 50,000 kilograms.

Transformation of predators

The distribution of the "predator - herbivorous dinosaur", corresponding to the modern ratio of carnivorous and herbivorous, is confirmed by the findings of Chicago scientists who established that most of the ceulurasaurs were either herbivorous, or evolved from them from predators. This indicates a good adaptability, which was inherent in dinosaurs - they began to lack animal food, they "retrained" into vegetarian food. It is interesting that during the transformation many of them lost their fangs and other teeth, and their muzzle was transformed into a beak.

A new species of herbivorous dinosaur

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

Pennsylvania scientists from 1998 to 2000 found a previously unknown dinosaur, which was named Suuwassea emilieae. It is assumed that he was a "relative" diplomat. Researchers, however, are already very much interested in the modifications of the sauropod legs, which are visible on the bones, as well as an incomprehensible hole in the skull. Previously, such holes were found only in three species of dinosaurs.

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