2024-01-02 17:00:00
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Do you know how video games work? Discover the elements that consoles contain to guarantee that a video game is immersive and quality.
One of the scenes that has most marked a generation only shows two glasses of water. As the plane approaches, a distant rumble vibrates the surface of the liquid, creating small waves. After showing the anguish of the people inside the vehicle, the glass becomes the protagonist and the waves and sound become closer and closer. The goat that had been tied to a post disappears and, after this, claws walking along the electrified fence give the signal for the terror to begin.
From Conan Doyle to Jurassic Park: dinosaurs and their impact on popular culture
Many of the scenes in Jurassic Park show dinosaurs as voracious and tireless beings. Although it is true that, during hunting or to defend their territory, animals can show this type of behavior, not everything is violence in the life of a predator. If we compare it with today, large carnivores such as Lions or tigers can also show gentleness with their young.and thanks to the fossil record and current birds, we can try to infer how dinosaurs behaved with their offspring.
A change of mentality
The idea of dinosaurs could be good parents It is old, but it was founded at the end of the 70s, when Jack Horner found a very special site. In it, there were remains of dozens of dinosaur eggs, as well as shells and 15 juvenile individuals. Although finding nests was already a rare event, the position of the various layers of remains caught Horner’s attention, as they seemed clutches from different periods stacked on top of each other. This could mean that dinosaurs moved seasonally to that place to lay their eggs.
CoreyFord a iStock
Dinosaur reconstruction Mayasaura with their babies
This behavior is what is observed, for example, in the turtles, who move to the beach where they were born and after laying they leave the nest, but there was a piece of the puzzle that did not fit. Also found at the site were remains of an adult around juvenile individuals. The dinosaur, 9 meters long and with a beak similar to a duck, seemed to be there taking care of its young, which is why the species was named Mayasaura or “Good mother lizard.” But of course, an extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence.
Fossils are the parents
After years of excavations, they have found other species of adults in nesting position, such as Cicipati osmolskae, or “funeral lord of the Halszka Osmólska bonfire.” This species, from the oviraptoridae family, measured about three meters in length and was similar to modern emus. 75 million years ago, these dinosaurs inhabited present-day Mongolia and to reproduce, they created circular nests in the ground in which it is estimated that they laid up to 22 eggs. Currently, at least 4 fossils Cicipati It seems that they died hatching their nests.
CorerFord en iStock
Reconstruction of the Citizen
From the fossil record, it is known that at least two other dinosaurs from the same era exhibited the behaviors described above. He Oviraptor, from the same family, got its unfortunate name “egg thief” from the position in which the only known specimen was found. When the discovery occurred, The animal was found near a fossilized nest with 15 eggs. Since the behavior of these animals was not known, it was automatically thought that the dinosaur must be trying to feed on the eggs. However, subsequent studies and evidence suggest that no, it must have been one of the parents defending the nest.
The eggs of the first dinosaurs were not what we thought
Although without a doubt, the best evidence to date comes from the specimen called LDNHMF2008. In this fossil it can be seen perfectly the breeding posture that oviraptorosaurs should adopt. The exceptional state of preservation indicates that the limbs were bent and directed backwards, thus covering the edges of the shell. The body of the animal was centered above the clutch, very close to the eggs to give them warmth.
2020 Science China Press. Elsevier.
The specimen LDNHMF2008 resting on the nest hatching the eggs.
Analyzing the behavior of a missing animal
All of these behaviors can be inferred from the position of the fossils, but the ideal way to find out how dinosaurs reproduced is exactly what happens in the Jurassic Park saga. If scientists managed to create one and observe how it treats its offspring, the behavior could be analyzed from start to finish. Unfortunately there are no large theropods left on our planet, since the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous also marked the end of non-avian dinosaurs. But in those last two words is the key: not avian. Birds are the evolutionary descendants of some of the ancient dinosaurs that inhabited our planet, so analyzing their behavior can help infer whether or not their relatives were good parents.
In approximately 90% of today’s birds, males collaborate in caring for offspring, either during brooding, or to feed the chicks. This fact, added to the fact that everything seems to indicate that the remains of adults Oviraptor y Cicinati found were malesreinforce the conclusion that Both sexes collaborated to care for the young.
The Paleogene, life after the extinction of the dinosaurs
Brooding the nest
Regarding how, in the LDNHMF2008 discovery, the position of the fossil on the nest may be reminiscent of that adopted by paleognaths, the current giant birds such as ostriches and emus. In these speciesmales have a fundamental role in caring for the young. During the day, the brown females hatch the eggs, as their colors blend with the browns of the savannah. At night, however, it is the male, black in color, who is most camouflaged, so he becomes responsible for providing the heat necessary for the development of the eggs. Unfortunately We do not know the colors of the plumage of these dinosaursso we cannot know what role each one played.
Now, the fact that some dinosaurs took care of their young does not mean that all of them did so. It is impossible to make generalizations in such different species and families. The discovery of other nests, such as those of titanosaurs found in India, seems to indicate that Some species did abandon their eggs before they hatched. In that particular case, the site with more than 250 eggs has 92 nests spread over a very small space. Due to the large size of titanosaurs, It would have been very difficult for them to maneuver without accidentally stepping on the eggs.so it is most likely that they did not hatch them and that they either protected them from a distance or, directly, abandoned them to their fate.
The behavior of dinosaurs is an inexhaustible source of surprises since, probably, The relationships between animal species would be as complex as those today. However, thanks to the work of experts in paleontology and ethology, There is evidence that allows us to affirm that yes, some dinosaurs were good parents.
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