A 33-foot long, carnivorous dinosaur that lived 85 million years ago had a breathing system similar to that used by modern birds, and researchers say the finding is further evidence of the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds. A fossil found in a riverbank in Argentina shows evidence of efficient air sacs that pumped air into the dinosaur's lungs. Lead researcher Paul Sereno named the new dinosaur Aerosteon riocoloradensis, which means "air bones from the Rio Colorado."
Instead of lungs that expand and contract, Sereno thinks this beast had air sacs that worked like a bellows, blowing air into the beast's stiff lungs, much like modern birds.... Most paleontologists believe birds evolved from small, feathered meat-eating dinosaurs, and the earliest known birds were strikingly similar to these dinosaurs [Reuters].
Verifying that dinosaurs had bird-like breathing systems has been difficult because lungs do not fossilize, according to Sereno. In Argentina, Sereno's ...
