Dinosaurs Adapted to Evolution to Dominate Earth Before Extinction

Dinosaurs dominated Earth when they were still present. According to a new report, adaptation played a huge role in their dominion before becoming extinct.

Dinosaurs and Evolution

Charles Darwin believed that evolution created "endless forms most beautiful." Some adaptations spontaneously emerged time and time again, and they favored dinosaurs.

At times evolution appears like one is getting the same hands of cards on multiple occasions. When it happens, it's a sign that it hit upon an effective solution, Science Alert reported.

A team of Brazilian researchers studies the dinos' vertebrae bones that reportedly enhanced their strength and reduced their body weight. The researchers likened the dinosaurs' aerated bones to corrugated cardboard from deliveries like Amazon to pack the items safely. They are light but tough.

Brazilian paleontologist Tito Aureliano and his colleagues discovered that dinosaurs had hollow bones filled with little air sacs. The said feature was reportedly very important in their survival, and it evolved independently multiple times in different lineages.

The study learned that aerated bones evolved in three lineages: pterosaurs, theropods, and sauropodomorphs.

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles. Theropods ranged from the crow-sized Microrapture to the huge Tyrannosaurus rex. Sauropodomorphs were long-necked herbivores, including Brachiosaurus.

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Evolution Allows Advantageous Features to be Passed to Future Generation

Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which outlined how evolutionary traits that create advantages are passed on to future generations.

Using the CT scan technology, Aureliano and his team could see the rock-hard fossils and air sacs in the dinosaur's spinal columns. According to them, there was no common ancestor with the trait, so all three groups must have developed air sacs independently, slightly in different ways.

The researchers believed that the air sacs enhanced oxygen levels in their blood. The researchers focused on the late Triassic period in south Brazil, roughly 233 million years ago. At the time, it had a scorching hot, and dry climate, so more oxygen circulating the dinosaurs' blood would help the beasts cool their bodies more efficiently and allow them to move faster.

The air sacs also reinforced the internal structure of the dinosaurs' bones while creating a greater surface area of attachments for large, powerful muscles. This would have enabled the bones to grow large without weighing down the animal.

The said type of adaptation has been observed in many bird species today that rely on their hollow bones to fly. Other animals used air sacs to strengthen their large bones and skulls without weighing them down.

For instance, inside the skulls of elephants are large air sacs that allow them to move their massive head and heavy tusks without straining their neck muscles.

Animals are faced with the same problems repeatedly, so they evolved similarly -but not identically - to end up with a solution each time. Animals today play by the same evolutionary playbook as the dinosaurs, according to the study.