Dinosaur Migration Hints at Shifts Toward Warm-Bloodedness

Dinosaur dispersal suggests that some species may have developed ability to control their body temperatures.

By Paul Smaglik
May 15, 2024 7:00 PMMay 15, 2024 6:54 PM
A feathered dinosaur protects its eggs in a nest amidst falling snow. Its brown and gray plumage suggests adaptations for cold climates, indicative of evolutionary traits for migration and survival
The artist’s impression shows a dromaeosaur, a type of feathered theropod, in the snow. This dinosaur group is popularly known as a raptor. A well-known dromaeosaur is Velociraptor, portrayed in the film Jurassic Park. (Credit: Davide Bonadonna/Universidade de Vigo/UCL)

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Some dinosaurs may have been essentially warm-blooded, which contradicts how we once thought of the ancient creatures, according to a new study in Current Biology.

“Up until the ‘70s, dinos were considered cold-blooded reptiles — basically over-grown crocs,” says Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, an author of the study and a researcher at University College London (UCL).

That conception has shifted some in the past decade, when researchers discovered that some dinosaur skeletal features more resembled birds than reptiles, and that some also may have sported feathers or feather-like structures.

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