Fast running dino had bird-like chest

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

Fast running dino had bird-like chest
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News (21 August 2008)


Although it would've stood only waist-high next to a human, Hypsilophodon foxii 
could run away in 
a flash, and now new research suggests it even may have possessed a special 
adaptation that 
prevented its ribs from rattling during Olympic-worthy dashes.

The discovery, which has been accepted for publication in the journal 
Cretaceous Research, yields 
both bad and good news for the plant-eating dinosaur. 

The bad is that scientists now believe it did not possess impressive body 
armour, as had previously 
been suspected.

The good is they now think the thin mineralised plates that had earlier been 
identified as evidence 
for armour were actually cartilage tissues that may have helped to regulate 
breathing, especially 
during periods of extreme physical exertion.


Read more at:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/08/21/2342407.htm?site=science&topic=latest

Article available here:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01956671

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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist              http://geo_cities.com/dannsdinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia             http://heretichides.soffiles.com
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