A dinosaur eggshell fossil in cross-section under a microscope using cross-polarizing light. Notice the clusters of biomineralized calcite crystals radiating out from central nodes, along the interior margin of the shell at the bottom of the image. This, and the bumpy surface of the exterior margin (top of image) is usually indicative of titanosaur, sauropod dinosaurs. (Image: Robin Dawson)
A dinosaur eggshell fossil in cross-section under a microscope using cross-polarizing light. Notice the clusters of biomineralized calcite crystals radiating out from central nodes, along the interior margin of the shell at the bottom of the image. This, and the bumpy surface of the exterior margin ( top of image ) is usually indicative of titanosaur, sauropod dinosaurs. (Image: Robin Dawson) - A Yale-led study turns up the heat on a key question about dinosaurs' body temperature: Were they warm-blooded or cold-blooded? According to a new technique that analyzes the chemistry of dinosaur eggshells, the answer is warm. " Dinosaurs sit at an evolutionary point between birds, which are warm-blooded, and reptiles, which are cold-blooded. Our results suggest that all major groups of dinosaurs had warmer body temperatures than their environment," said Robin Dawson, who conducted the research while she was a doctoral student in geology and geophysics at Yale. Dawson, now a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, is lead author of a new study Advances.
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