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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 11/08/2007 : 00:51:00
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A stiudy says theropod dinosaurs had the air-sac breathing apparatus of modern birds: Velociraptors, tyrannosaurs and other related carnivorous dinosaurs breathed like some of today's diving birds and consequently were probably speedy predators, a new study finds.
In recent years, paleontologists have learned that birds are direct ancestors of theropod dinosaurs, sharing anatomical features such as hollow bones, three functional toes on their feet and often even feathers.
"Our findings support this view and show that the similarities also extend to breathing structures and that these dinosaurs possessed everything they needed to breathe using an avian-like, air-sac respiratory system," said study leader Jonathan Codd of the University of Manchester in Great Britain. |
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 11/08/2007 : 03:21:04 [Permalink]
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That's been hypothesized for some time. Interestingly, it also adds a bit of support to another hypothesis: that they self-regulated their body temperatures. This all points to a highly efficent predator/scavenger capable of very long treks through it's (and other's) territory, and brief bursts of speed concievably unequaled in terrestrial animals today.
I would love to know exactly how fast the various theropods actually were.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Theropods breathed like birds
