Study of Dinosaur fossil sheds light on evolution of a unique breathing technique

In a new study of a dinosaur fossil, researchers have discovered a unique breathing mechanism used by Heterodontosaurus. The discovery crushed the popular belief that dinosaurs used the same mechanism as birds to breathe. However, according to the data gathered from European Synchrotron Radiation Source (ESRS), the reptiles had tooth-pick-like bones called gastralia paired with sternal bones and ribs to form a tennis racket-like structure.

A team of researchers namely: Victor J Radermacher, Vincent Fernandez, Emma R Schacher, Richard J Butler, Emese M Bordy, Michael Naylor Hudgins, William J de Klerk, Kimberly EJ Chapelle, and Jonah N Choiniere published their observations in the eLife journal on July 6, 2021. The finding stated that the garoup of international paleontologists studied a fossil of Heterodontosaurus tucki, a small herbivore dinosaur from the Eastern Cape region of South Africa in 2009.

Breathing Anatomy

The Heterodontosaurus expanded its chest and belly and used its paddle-shaped ribs and small tooth-pick-like bones to breathe. The function of the breathing bones was studied using ESRF X-rays combined with high energy beam-line configuration, said Vincent Fernandez, a scientist at Natural History Museum in London. “We’ve long known that the skeletons of ornithischian dinosaurs were radically different from those of other dinosaurs,” explained Richard Butler, from the School of Geography, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK. “This amazing new fossil helps us understand why ornithischians were so distinctive and successful,” he added.

The group of scientists from the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa came together in 2016 and used the synchrotron light source to scan the complete skeleton of the fossil. “A farmer friend of mine called my attention to the specimen,” says de Klerk, “and when I saw it I immediately knew we had something special on our hands.” The scientists virtually reconstructed the skeleton and prepared a structure that showed the breathing biology of the 200-million-year-old-plant-eating-dinosaur.

Heterodontosaurus is one of the oldest and first-evolving Ornithischians. It is the group that includes favorites like Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and duckbilled dinosaurs. Heterodontosaurus lived in the early Jurassic period, about 200 million years ago, surviving an extinction at the end of the prior Triassic period. Understanding how the breathing anatomy of these dinosaurs would also help paleontologists to figure out the features the helped certain dinosaurs to survive or go extinct.