Tiny skull holds key to veggie dinos

[theblackalchemist]

Tiny skull holds key to veggie dinos

 

A rare juvenile skull of a 190 million-year-old dinosaur may help explain when an important group of plant eaters branched off from

carnivorous cousins, US and UK researchers said on Thursday.

 

The tiny skull belonged to a young Heterodontosaurus. Its tooth structure — sharp canine teeth for biting and tearing and flat grinding teeth —suggest the tiny creature was evolving from a meat eater to a plant eater, the scientists said.

 

"This juvenile skull indicates that these dinosaurs were still in the midst of that transition," said Laura Porro, a post-doctoral student at the University of Chicago, who described the skull in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

 

Tiny skull holds key to veggie dinos-Health/Sci-The Times of India