Dinosaurs burrowed to keep warm

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

Dinosaurs burrowed to keep warm
AgenÃe France-Presse - Wednesday, 21 March 2007


Palaeontologists have found the remains of small dinosaurs that made their 
home in a burrow, a finding that suggests dinosaurs could exploit a much 
wider habitat than thought. 

Fossilised bones and the dinosaurs' underground den were found in the US 
state of Montana. 

Researchers have named the dinosaurs Oryctodromeus cubicularis, a mix of 
Greek and Latin that means "digging runner of the lair". 

The burrow's soil has been dated to the mid-Cretaceous, a hothouse period 
that ran from about 135-115 million years ago. 

"[It is] the first trace and body fossil evidence of burrowing behaviour in 
a dinosaur," the trio of US and Japanese researchers say. 

Their paper appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a journal of 
the UK's Royal Society... 


Read more at:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1877565.htm 

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