Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
The earliest dinosaurs were unremarkable, bit players on a supercontinent crowded with other ancient reptiles when they first evolved around 230 million years ago.
Fast-forward 30 million years, however, and dinosaurs dominated the planet, coming in all shapes, sizes and forms, while many of their reptilian counterparts had died off. Exactly why they were so evolutionarily successful is a long-standing mystery, but new research suggests some answers to this question may be contained in what they left behind: dinosaur droppings.
“We know a lot about their lives and extinction but not how they came about,” said Martin Qvarnström, lead author of a study on the rise of dinosaurs published Wednesday in the journal Nature and a paleontologist at Uppsala University in Sweden.
To better understand the extinct giants, Qvarnström and his colleagues investigated overlooked fossils known as bromalites: remnants from the digestive system — aka dinosaur poop and vomit.