Bizarre Fruit-Eating “Hell Chicken” Suggests Dinosaurs Played a Role in Flowering Plant Evolution
Its jaws were fruit-mashing machines The post Bizarre Fruit-Eating “Hell Chicken” Suggests Dinosaurs Played a Role in Flowering Plant Evolution appeared first on Nautilus .
In the late Cretaceous period, fruit was a novel food source as flowering plants took over from cone-bearing plants. Paleontologists have now unearthed a dinosaur that appears to be a specialized fruit-feeder, potentially playing a large role in the evolution of fruit-bearing plants. This discovery was made in the Hell Creek Formation, a fossil-rich region spanning Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
The species, named Infernogallus or "hell chicken," was roughly the size of a turkey and possessed peculiar adaptations for a diet of fruit. Its jaw anatomy, indicative of musculature capable of mashing pulpy fiber, is rare and unique among dinosaurs, suggesting this dinosaur played a significant part in the evolution of fruit-bearing plants.
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