Unveiling the Dinosaur’s Menu: A Fossilized Time Capsule Reveals the Sauropod’s Diet 100 Million Years Ago

A groundbreaking study published in the Cell Press journal Current Biology has shed light on the diet of one of the most fascinating creatures to have ever walked the Earth – the sauropod dinosaur. The research, led by Stephen Poropat of Curtin University, reveals that these gentle giants were herbivores and had a unique digestive system that relied heavily on gut microbes for digestion.

The study’s findings are based on an extraordinary discovery made in 2017 at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History. During an excavation of a sauropod skeleton from the mid-Cretaceous period, researchers stumbled upon a well-preserved cololite – a fossilized rock layer containing the dinosaur’s gut contents.

The analysis of the plant fossils within the cololite has confirmed several long-standing hypotheses about the sauropod diet. The research team found that these dinosaurs likely engaged in minimal oral processing of their food and instead relied on fermentation and their gut microbiota for digestion.

The variety of plants present in the cololite suggests that sauropods were indiscriminate bulk feeders, eating a range of foliage from conifers to leaves from flowering plants. This is supported by the presence of chemical biomarkers from both angiosperms and gymnosperms, indicating that at least some sauropods were not selective feeders.

The researchers’ findings have significant implications for our understanding of these massive herbivores and their role in ancient ecosystems. The study suggests that sauropods had successfully adapted to eat flowering plants within 40 million years of the first evidence of their presence in the fossil record.

In addition, the research team found evidence of small shoots, bracts, and seed pods in the cololite, implying that subadult Diamantinasaurus targeted new growth portions of conifers and seed ferns. This strategy of indiscriminate bulk feeding seems to have served sauropods well for 130 million years and might have enabled their success and longevity as a clade.

While this research has shed new light on the diet of sauropod dinosaurs, there are still limitations to consider. The study’s primary limitation is that the sauropod gut contents described constitute a single data point, which may not be representative of typical or adult sauropods’ diets.

This research was supported by funding from the Australian Research Council and has significant implications for our understanding of these fascinating creatures and their role in ancient ecosystems.

The island of Madagascar, situated off the coast of East Africa, has a unique history that sets it apart from other landmasses on Earth. Approximately 88 million years ago, the island drifted away from India, isolating it and its inhabitants from all other continents. This geographical isolation allowed the flora and fauna of Madagascar to evolve in seclusion, giving rise to an astonishing array of plants and animals found nowhere else on our planet.

One aspect of this remarkable biodiversity is a process called endozoochory, where animals consume plant seeds and then deposit them elsewhere through their digestive system. While research has focused primarily on the roles of birds and mammals as seed dispersers, lizards have often been overlooked in this context. This neglect inspired a team of researchers from Kyoto University to shine a spotlight on these humble creatures.

Contrary to popular perception, not all lizard species are frugivores, which means they do not consume fruits or other fruit-like substances. However, some lizards that do eat fruits can play an essential role in seed dispersal, and certain species are even primary seed dispersers for specific plant species. As the corresponding author Ryobu Fukuyama notes, “Lizards are under-appreciated as seed dispersers in many forest ecosystems, but we hypothesized that they may play a more important role across a broader range of regions than previously recognized.”

The research team focused on three lizard species found in a tropical dry forest in Madagascar: the Malagasy Giant Chameleon, Cuvier’s Madagascar Swift, and the Western Girdled Lizard. These omnivores consume fruits from over 20 plant species and expel viable seeds. Interestingly, these plant species are largely different from those typically consumed by the Common Brown Lemur, a principal seed disperser in Madagascar’s forests, indicating that lizards may play a more crucial role than previously thought.

While acknowledging the importance of lizards as seed dispersers is significant, the research project also highlights the challenges faced by Malagasy forests due to human activities. The degradation of these ecosystems has made them uninhabitable for large frugivores like lemurs, but not for the lizard species studied in this research. As seed dispersers, these lizards could potentially contribute to forest regeneration, although many unknowns remain.

In the future, the team intends to focus further on additional aspects of lizard seed dispersal, such as dispersal distances. This research has significant implications for our understanding of ecosystem function and biodiversity conservation, particularly in the context of Madagascar’s unique environment.

The article “Scientists find immune molecule that supercharges plant growth” has been rewritten to provide clarity, structure, and style while maintaining its core ideas. The rewritten version is as follows:

Unlocking Nature’s Potential: Scientists Discover Key Molecule to Supercharge Plant Growth

For years, researchers have known about a molecule called itaconate that plays a vital role in the human immune system. However, its presence and functions in plants remained largely unexplored – until now. Biologists at the University of California San Diego have conducted the first comprehensive study on itaconate’s functions in plants, revealing its significant role in stimulating plant growth.

“We found that itaconate is made in plants, particularly in growing cells,” said Jazz Dickinson, a senior author of the study and an assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. “Watering maize (corn) plants with itaconate made seedlings grow taller, which was exciting and encouraged us to investigate this metabolite further and understand how it interacts with plant proteins.”

The researchers used chemical imaging and measurement techniques to confirm that plants produce itaconate. They also discovered that itaconate plays multiple key roles in plant physiology, including involvement in primary metabolism and oxygen-related stress response.

Optimizing the natural benefits of itaconate could be crucial for safely maximizing crop growth to support growing global populations. “This discovery could lead to nature-inspired solutions to improve the growth of crops, like corn,” said Dickinson. “We also hope that developing a better understanding of the connections between plant and animal biology will reveal new insights that can help both plant and human health.”

The study, supported in part by funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, was published in the journal Science Advances on June 6, 2025. The findings have exciting implications for improving crop growth using nature-inspired solutions, while also offering fresh information for understanding the molecule’s role in human development and growth.