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No gastric mill in sauropod dinosaurs: new evidence from analysis of gastrolith mass and function in ostriches

Oliver Wings, P. Martin Sander
Published 7 March 2007.DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3763
Oliver Wings
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P. Martin Sander
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Abstract

Polished pebbles occasionally found within skeletons of giant herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs are very likely to be gastroliths (stomach stones). Here, we show that based on feeding experiments with ostriches and comparative data for relative gastrolith mass in birds, sauropod gastroliths do not represent the remains of an avian-style gastric mill. Feeding experiments with farm ostriches showed that bird gastroliths experience fast abrasion in the gizzard and do not develop a polish. Relative gastrolith mass in sauropods (gastrolith mass much less than 0.1% of body mass) is at least an order of magnitude less than that in ostriches and other herbivorous birds (gastrolith mass approximates 1% of body mass), also arguing against the presence of a gastric mill in sauropods. Sauropod dinosaurs possibly compensated for their limited oral processing and gastric trituration capabilities by greatly increasing food retention time in the digestive system. Gastrolith clusters of some derived theropod dinosaurs (oviraptorosaurs and ornithomimosaurs) compare well with those of birds, suggesting that the gastric mill evolved in the avian stem lineage.

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Footnotes

  • Electronic supplementary material is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3763 or via http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk.

    • Received September 3, 2006.
    • Accepted October 29, 2006.
  • © 2006 The Royal Society
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7 March 2007
Volume 274, issue 1610
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: 274 (1610)
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No gastric mill in sauropod dinosaurs: new evidence from analysis of gastrolith mass and function in ostriches
Oliver Wings, P. Martin Sander
Proc. R. Soc. B 2007 274 635-640; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3763. Published 7 March 2007
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No gastric mill in sauropod dinosaurs: new evidence from analysis of gastrolith mass and function in ostriches

Oliver Wings, P. Martin Sander
Proc. R. Soc. B 2007 274 635-640; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3763. Published 7 March 2007

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