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Dino Diet: Baby Brachiosaurs Were Prey
30 Jan
Summary
- Young sauropods, not adults, were primary prey for predators.
- Fossil evidence from Colorado reconstructed a Jurassic food web.
- Predators targeted easier meals like juveniles over adults.
Paleontologists have reconstructed a detailed food web from the Jurassic Period, approximately 150 million years ago, indicating that young sauropods were a common prey item for carnivorous dinosaurs. The ecosystem, represented by numerous fossils found at the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry in southwestern Colorado, featured at least six types of sauropods and five types of meat-eating dinosaurs.
Researchers concluded that baby and young juvenile sauropods, lacking the defenses of their larger counterparts, were the most accessible food source for top predators. Adult sauropods relied on their immense size and herd behavior for protection, making them too risky for most predators. However, their offspring, needing years to mature and lacking armor, presented a more manageable target.
The study utilized various evidence, including chemical analysis of tooth enamel and biomechanical models, to map predator-prey relationships. This allowed scientists to understand that hunting large adult sauropods like Brachiosaurus would have been a high-risk endeavor, leading predators to focus on juveniles, the sick, or the injured.
