• Earliest evidence of herd-living in dinosaurs

    From Pandora@21:1/5 to All on Fri Oct 22 16:57:51 2021
    Earliest evidence of herd-living and age segregation amongst
    dinosaurs.

    Abstract

    Sauropodomorph dinosaurs dominated the herbivorous niches during the
    first 40 million years of dinosaur history (Late Triassic–Early
    Jurassic), yet palaeobiological factors that influenced their
    evolutionary success are not fully understood. For instance, knowledge
    on their behaviour is limited, although herding in sauropodomorphs has
    been well documented in derived sauropods from the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous. Here we report an exceptional fossil occurrence from
    Patagonia that includes over 100 eggs and skeletal specimens of 80
    individuals of the early sauropodomorph Mussaurus patagonicus, ranging
    from embryos to fully-grown adults, with an Early Jurassic age as
    determined by high-precision U–Pb zircon geochronology. Most specimens
    were found in a restricted area and stratigraphic interval, with some articulated skeletons grouped in clusters of individuals of
    approximately the same age. Our new discoveries indicate the presence
    of social cohesion throughout life and age-segregation within a herd
    structure, in addition to colonial nesting behaviour. These findings
    provide the earliest evidence of complex social behaviour in
    Dinosauria, predating previous records by at least 40 My. The presence
    of sociality in different sauropodomorph lineages suggests a possible
    Triassic origin of this behaviour, which may have influenced their
    early success as large terrestrial herbivores.

    Open access:
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-99176-1

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