Sauropods, the giant dinosaurs, may have been migrating

The analysis of teeth large sauropods, giant dinosaurs quadrupeds, indicates that these herbivores were making seasonal migrations of more than 300 km to reach areas rich in food.
Follow the investigation into the disappearance of the dinosaurs

Analysis of teeth of the genus Camarasaurus sauropod, conducted by researchers at Colorado College, indicates that these dinosaurs, which lived in the Jurassic period there are about 150 million years, were migratory animals. It is by focusing on the oxygen isotopes found in tooth enamel of sauropod, found in the geological basin Morrison, west of the United States, scientists have inferred that these animals had held very different habitats during their life.

Indeed, when vertebrates drink, their teeth incorporate the isotopes in the water. However, the isotope concentrations studied corresponded to the water from areas located about 300 km from the plains where the teeth of these animals were found. Better, more accurate analysis of the different layers that make up the teeth (a bit like sedimentary layers) has shown that these sauropods had made several trips between the plains and areas of high altitude pastures.

Herds of giant dinos

These results are interpreted with caution since the teeth were not found near the skeleton of a sauropod. The migration of the tooth could therefore simply be the result of a transport in a river, after the death of its owner. Especially since all the teeth examined do not lead to similar conclusions.

The idea of ​​migration of giant dinosaurs leads to other questions. Having demonstrated the migration of these herbivores, the authors of the study published in Nature also wonder if the carnivorous dinosaurs, sauropods predators, also traveled hundreds of miles in pursuit of their prey.