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Dinosaurs took middle ground on thermoregulation

Dinosaurs were neither warm- nor cold-blooded, according to a new study.

John Grady from University of New Mexico and colleagues reached this conclusion by showing a relationship in modern vertebrates between growth rate, metabolic rate and body temperature.

We can estimate dinosaur growth using fossil growth rings, so the researchers used this relationship to infer dinosaurs’ metabolic rates and hence their mode of thermoregulation.

Dinosaur metabolic rates most closely resembled those of mesotherms like the echidna and great white shark, which use an intermediate strategy between ectothermy (“cold-bloodedness”) and endothermy (“warm-bloodededness”).

Read more at University of New Mexico

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