News

Posted: Jun 12, 2014 - 12:00pm

Dinosaurs dominated the landscape for more than 100 million years, but all that remains today are bones. This has made it difficult to solve a long-standing and contentious puzzle: were dinosaurs cold-blooded animals that lumbered along or swift warm-blooded creatures as depicted in Jurassic Park? 

The answer, according to scientists at the University of New Mexico, is neither. Instead, dinosaurs took a middle path between warm-blooded mammals (‘endotherms’) and cold-blooded reptiles (‘ectotherms’). 

“Most dinosaurs were probably mesothermic," said John Grady, a graduate student at UNM who led the research. “A thermally intermediate strategy that only a few species ­– such as egg laying echidnas or great white sharks – use today.”

Read the full article at UNM Newsroom