Re: Dinosaur urine?

[Phil Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

Nonavian theropods would likely have had an excretory system similar to
birds.  Non-theropod dinosaurs, that's anyone's guess.

I was wondering about the geological stability of calcium oxalate and
uric acid.  T. rex suffered from gout (Rothschild et al. 1997. Nature
387:357).  That would suggest an abnormality existed in purine
metabolism, and the added possibility of uric acid kidney stones in T.
rex (birds get uric acid kidney stones.  I don't know whether calcium
oxalate stones also form in birds).

Have either calcium oxalate or uric acid been detected in coprolites?

<pb>
--

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 02:19:32 -0300 Roberto Takata <rmtakata@gmail.com>
writes:
> Dear People,
> 
> I was watching Jurassic Park 3 other day. In a scene, the boy lost 
> in
> the Lorna Island show to Dr Grant a flask with T-rex pee.
> 
> Well, bird nitrogenous excretion is solid (uric acid) and 
> eliminated
> with excrement as the white dielectric material (as described by 
> Arno
> and Penzias). How is the N-compounds excretion in crocodiles?
> 
> Would a dinosaur produce a watery urine or a pasty one?
> 
> []s,
> 
> Roberto Takata
> 
>