Jakarta –
Dinosaur may have ruled the planet for more than 160 million years. The reason according to the latest research is quite surprising, namely because of the way they walk.
With adaptations to walk on two and four legs, they diversified and outcompeted other organisms to become the dominant land vertebrates from the end of the Triassic (251.9 million to 201.3 million years ago) until their extinction about 66 million years ago in the Cretaceous period.
In a new study in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers say that because dinosaurs walked on their hind legs and then on four legs, they had a distinct advantage during periods of massive environmental change.
Dinosaurs are part of the group Avemetatarsalia, evolving with the related reptile group, Pseudosuchia, which includes the ancestors of crocodiles. Both groups emerged in the Triassic, after the Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago.
Researchers used fossilized foot bones from 208 species of avemetatarsalians, pseudosuchians and close relatives to look at the changes. When they first appeared, pseudosuchians were a more diverse group. Some pseudosuchians walked on their hind legs, but most still crawled.
Dinosaurs originally had two legs and could run, not just walk slowly like their ancestors. Being able to move quickly increased their ability to evade predators and catch prey, giving them an advantage during the dry climate of the Triassic.
“There was huge pressure on food availability. Somehow, dinosaurs, which had been few in number for 20 million years, started to thrive and pseudosuchians didn’t,” lead author Amy Shipley, a paleobiology master’s student at the University of Bristol was quoted as saying detikINET from Live Science.
“It is likely that ancient dinosaurs were good at water conservation, just as many modern reptiles and birds are today. But our evidence suggests their greater adaptability in walking and running played an important role,” he added.
At the end of the Triassic, another mass extinction wiped out most pseudosuchians, except for crocodylomorphs that lived on four legs. Some dinosaurs retained their upright, bipedal posture while others returned to crawling. This allows them to diversify.
“After the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic, we got very large dinosaurs, more than ten meters long, some of them had iron bones, many had four legs, but many were two-legged like their ancestors,” said one of the study authors. , Suresh Singh.
The diversity of postures and gait makes them very adaptable. This ensures their long-term success on Earth. Although dinosaurs developed other traits that helped them thrive, such as the ability to regulate temperature with feathers and more efficient breathing mechanisms, this research suggests their locomotion strategies gave them important advantages.
Watch the video “About Megalosaurus, the First Dinosaur Named 200 Years Ago”
(fyk/fyk)
2024-02-18 22:45:00
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