New study shows what a 110-million-year old dinosaur ate
Recommended for Middle Grades
Can you imagine what an armour-plated dinosaur that weighed more than 1300 kg must have eaten? Thanks to scientists, we know now – it ate a lot of leafy greens!
Scientists recently studied the stomach contents of the fossils of a nodosaur which lived 110 million years ago.
It has been named Borealopelta markmitchelli. It was 18-feet-long and had bony armoured plates (like the gear that soldiers wear to protect themselves in battle).
The nodosaur was originally discovered in a mine in Canada in 2011 and has been on display at Canada’s Royal Tyrrell Museum since 2017. When scientists studied sections of its stomach under a microscope, they were shocked to find well-preserved plant material.
What did they find?
The study showed that the nodosaur’s last meal was mainly fern leaves, with some stems and twigs mixed in. Moreover, they also found charcoal in the stomach that suggests the animal was browsing in an area where ferns were regrowing after a fire.
This is an interesting find as it’s very rare to find actual preserved stomachs of dinosaurs and in such well-preserved conditions.
Watch a video of the nodosaur below. Video credit: National Geographic
Dinosaurs lived millions and millions of years ago. But even today, they remain very popular in our collective imagination. We keep finding out new fascinating things about them and how they lived their lives. However, like animals today, there were many many different types of dinosaurs. Some were as small as birds while some were as huge as whales today. So, keep coming along with us at Curious Times as we go on a journey to find out more about these amazing ancient animals.
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