Paleontologist Michael D’Emin, PhD. of the Stony Brook University in New York has published a paper in Science journal puts forth the belief that dinosaurs were warm blooded.
Reanalysis of 2014 Science Publication
Dr. D’Emin’s paper is an adventure in reanalysis of a paper published last year in Science on a study of dinosaur metabolism and growth. That study concluded that dinosaurs were neither cold- nor hot-blooded, but were rather somewhere in between and were dubbed “mesothermic.”
Growth Rate Underestimated
Dr. D’Emic is a specialist in bone microanatomy and is a research instructor at the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook. The reanalysis of the data in the 2014 report led him to the conclusion that the growth rate of the dinosaurs studied had been underestimated. Based on the adventure of the analysis of dinosaur bones, he states that dinosaurs, like many animals, do not grow at the same rate every year. The original study had used a scale that compared daily growth rates to yearly rates for comparison standards.
His studies show dinosaur bone growth akin to the circles of growth shown in tree trunks, where growth is dependent upon surrounding environmental conditions. This was one of the reasons that led him to state that dinosaurs were warm-blooded.
Data Comparison Should Have Been Compared to Birds
One of the other problems Dr. D’Emic found with the conclusion was that it was not compared to that of birds, which scientists now agree are the direct descendants of the dinosaurs, and birds are warm blooded. The conclusion that dinosaurs were warm blooded arises from the understanding that today’s birds are dinosaurs that haven’t gone extinct.
Conclusion That Dinosaurs Were Warm Blooded
Although Dr. D’Emic disagreed with the conclusions of the 2014 study, he stated that the data collected provided excellent research information and it was crucial to his conclusion that dinosaurs were warm blooded. Assistant Professor Holly Woodward at the Center for Health Sciences at the Oklahoma State University stated that Dr. D’Emics reanalysis shows how important it is for other scientists to have access to the research of other published data as it provides the opportunity for more hypothesis advancement and testing.
Dr. D’Emic’s main conclusion from reanalyzing the data is that on average, all of the dinosaurs studied up until now have shown more similarities to today’s warm blooded mammals than to cold blooded reptiles. Based on the information currently available, he states that dinosaurs were warm-blooded. The authors of the original study stand by their conclusions. However, it appears that there is at least a consensus that dinosaurs were not cold-blooded like previously believed.
