New fossils reveal dinosaurs may have been caring parents

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

We typically don’t think of cold-blooded dinosaurs as caring parents, but a new report shows one species that tended to its young after birth.

Published in the Geosciences Journal, the new study is based on the discovery of an apparent family of Philydrosauras dinosaurs – with an adult and six juveniles nearby.

Uncovered by a farmer in the western Liaoning Province of China four years ago, the dinosaur specimen was analyzed by researchers from the United Kingdom, Japan and China.

“The fact that six young surround what appears to be an adult suggests the animals were in natural close proximity at the time of death,” study team member Charles Deeming told The Daily Mail. “Although it is possible that the individuals were all swept together during or soon after the event that killed them it is feel that this specimen more likely represents an instance of post-natal parental care.”

This type of parental care from Philydrosauras is seen in modern relatives of the ancient lizards – specifically birds and crocodilians. In fact, alligators and crocodiles are known to fiercely defend their young against predators. Deeming said that Philydrosauras, part of a semi-aquatic order of dinosaurs known as choristodera, probably exhibited a similar protective behavior.

“Their relatively small size would have meant that choristoderes were probably exposed to high predation pressure,” said Deeming, a biologist at the University of Lincoln in the UK. “This specimen represents the oldest record of post-natal parental care in diapsids – a group of animals that include all reptiles – to our knowledge and is the latest in an increasingly detailed collection of choristoderes exhibiting different levels of reproduction and parental care.”

Other instances of parental care in seen in dinosaur fossils are exceedingly uncommon and it has only been documented in two kinds of dinosaurs and a smaller lizard called a pelycosaur.

In August, fossils considered to be around 120 million years old were found in northeastern China. The placing and makeup of the fossils reveals they all died at the same time, potentially as a consequence of a landslide sparked by a volcanic eruption or other seismic event.

Although the entire specimen is only around 2 feet across, it includes fossils from 25 Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis dinosaurs. These dinosaurs were highly-mobile plant eaters and among the most abundant dinosaurs found.

Scientists who made the discovery said the region was clearly not a nest, but may have been some kind of nursery where ‘babysitters’ cared for a group of young hatchlings.

A study published in December put forth the theory that dinosaurs may have been killed by both widespread volcanic activity and a massive impact from an asteroid.

The new study is based on an analysis of rock from an area in west-central India. The researchers were able to determine that the ancient rocks were deposited by activity that started 250,000 years before the massive asteroid strike thought to have killed the dinosaurs and extended for 500,000 years following the massive impact, releasing around 580,000 square miles of lava. All that volcanic activity would have undoubtedly released high amounts of toxic gases that would have significantly impacted animal population around the globe, the study team said.

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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113316511/new-fossils-reveal-dinosaurs-may-have-been-caring-parents/