Herbivorous dinosaur tended to feed , well , flora . But the fossilized shit of these animate being has disclose something unusual – it now seems these big beasts now and then branch out gastronomically and also snacked oncrayfish and crab .
The strange conduct was brought to light when researchers uncovered the 75 - million - yr - older fossilize poop , known as coprolite , of some expectant herbivorous dinosaurs , which is itself quite a rare find . While carnivore coprolite are fairly common as the bones and minerals in them help in the preservation summons , the poop of industrial plant - eating dinosaurs is far scarcer .
In the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument in southern Utah , scientists find oneself what they believe to be the dope of herbivorous hadrosaurs , also known as duck - placard dinosaur . To their surprise , hidden within 10 of these crap nuggets , they discovered tiny little patch of shell . While they were ineffectual to name what crustacean they once belonged to , the scientist report in their paper inScientific Advancesthat they antecedently establish the remains of Crab fossilise at the same site .
The bits of racing shell were found in the nincompoop among pieces of decaying wood , which the hadrosaurs were also obviously chowing down on . One suggestion is that perhaps the animals were eating the wood and vacuum up the assorted louse and crustacean with it by chance event . However , according to the researchers , this seems unlikely .
The bit of casing indicate that the crustacean were at least 5 centimeter ( 2 inches ) in length , and possibly even gravid than that . If this were the event , bet on the size of it of the dinosaur , the crabs or spiny lobster would have been around 20 to 60 per centum of the width of the animals ’ mouth , meaning that it would have been a act of a stretch to wipe out something that sizing by accident , in particular if it was squirming about .
“ While it is difficult to turn up intent regarding feeding strategy , I suspect these dinosaur place molder Sir Henry Wood because it was a great generator of protein in the word form of insects , crustaceans and other invertebrates , ” remark carbon monoxide gas - author Karen Chin , associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder , in astatement .
This then raises the dubiousness of what a predominantly plant - eating animal was doing snacking on hard - shelled critters every so often . The fact that it was not find within just one coprolite suggests that this was a evenhandedly common behavior among some of these animals , and Chin postulates that it might have occurred during fosterage time of year , with the encouragement of protein and Ca aiding in the development of eggs .
