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Holes In Baby Dinosaur Bones Show How Football-Sized Hatchlings Grew To 3-Tonne Teens

Maiasaura Dinosaurs cross Swamp
(Credit:Catmando/Shutterstock)

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Despite their public image as torpid, lumbering creatures, many dinosaurs were evidently warm-blooded, highly active animals, capable of prolonged and strenuous aerobic exercise.

In new research, my colleagues and I determined how much energy minibus-sized dinosaurs called Maiasaura used while growing to adulthood.

Our results, published in the journal Paleobiology, show Maiasaura was capable of taking in huge amounts of energy and nutrients and using them for rapid growth and levels of activity comparable to those of modern mammals.

How bones heal and grow

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