Before the dinosaurs, these men had a serious eating defect

In the pre-towering dinosaur era we know well from textbooks and Jurassic Park movies, a cute, pig-sized ugly creature named a rhynchosaur roamed the earth, gnawing at tough vegetation with a single row of teeth. like The New York Times Reports suggest they were relatively successful at the time (about 245 million years ago in the Triassic period), but scientists determined they had a critical physical design flaw that we now know made their fossil-based reputation as “smiling” reptiles a lie. in research Conducted by scientists at the University of Bristol in the UK, CT scans found that, due to physiological limitations in their jaws, rhynchosaurs were likely to starve to death once they reached old age.

New Atlas In its coverage, he notes that rhynchosaurs preferred a diet of tough plants that would likely “grind their teeth to such an extent that they would not be able to obtain adequate nutrition”. The problem was an inefficient scissor-like chewing action. A rhinoceros might tear up some delicious leathery plant leaves, then spend time mashing them to a digestible state using just one set of teeth grinding the material against bony ridges. These teeth deteriorated over time, and unlike some modern animals that follow similar ways of eating, rhinos could not grow replacements. Eventually, they will be left with a pulp or two, unable to chew properly any longer. The changes to their jaw and mouth also left them with what appears to be a permanent smile, he notes times.

says University of Chicago evolutionary biologist Yara Haridy, who was not involved in the research times. Study co-author Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul said in A press release that rhynchosaurs “were obviously eating really tough food like ferns, which wore teeth down to their jawbone, which means they cut their meals with a mixture of teeth and bones.” However, the changing climate that affected the plants’ availability may be more to blame for their eventual demise than physical blame, according to the press release. There are still mysteries to be solved about these ancient herbivores, however, and Phys.org In April, the discovery of new rhinosaurus fossils in Wyoming may bring them into greater focus. (Read more dinosaur stories.)