Truth in Droppings

What did dinosaurs eat to rise to dominance 230 million years ago? The answer, it turns out, lies in fossilized feces, according to a new study.

Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden conducted one of the largest studies of dinosaur droppings, or coprolites, analyzing more than 500 samples to piece together ancient food practices.

The findings showed that dietary adaptability may have been the key to dinosaurs’ success during the turbulent Late Triassic period.

“Piecing together ‘who ate whom’ in the past is true detective work,” lead author Martin Qvarnström explained in a statement. “Being able to examine what animals ate and how they interacted with their environment helps us understand what enabled dinosaurs to be so successful.”

Qvarnström and his team used advanced synchrotron imaging to uncover undigested food remains in the coprolites, including fish scales, insect parts, plants, and bones.

They discovered that early dinosaurs were not very picky.

“The first dinosaur ancestors were opportunistic,” Qvarnström told NPR. “They were eating insects, fish, plants – everything that they came across.” The researchers also came across surprising details about the diets of some of the first large herbivores, such as sauropods: Their droppings contained tree ferns and other plants, and even charcoal – the latter, researchers believe, may have helped detoxify their stomachs from toxic plants.

The findings highlight the adaptability of dinosaurs during a period of massive environmental change. As the supercontinent Pangea broke apart, the climate shifted dramatically, favoring flexible eaters over more picky competitors.

The study also reconstructed entire ancient ecosystems by combining data from coprolites with climate models and other fossils. It fills a critical gap in understanding the first 30 million years of dinosaur evolution, offering a five-step model of their rise to dominance.

The authors hope that their research will inspire future studies on dino droppings.

“I think it’s really cool and an underestimated part of paleontology,” Qvarnström told NPR.