Scientists have recently discovered a dinosaur that they believe was poisonous. When it bit something, it delivered a poison. Read the article Dino-bite! Study suggests dinosaur's teeth packed poison by Stephen Ornes. Why might this be a useful adaptation? And why do scientists think they were poisonous? What evidence do scientists have?
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Scientists were able to look at the teeth of a Sinornithsaurus and tell that this 125 million year old dinosaur from China, used poison to capture or kill its prey. All of the teeth had channels in them which allowed the venom to enter the prey when. These channels all connected to small holes in the skull, which is probally where the venom glands were. There are a few advantages to having the abillity to inject prey with venom. The prey will most likely die which makes it easier to kill and the dinosaur can find it even if it gets away.
ReplyDeleteDelivering poison while biting prey is a very useful adaptation, and a few animals today have it (snakes probably being the most common). It allows the predator to have to bite its prey once (or however many times it takes to inject venom). Other animals such as lions have to actually kill their prey by themselves, which often takes a lot of energy, and sometimes the prey will escape. With venom, the predator has a greater chance of killing its prey AND being able to eat it, and with just half of the effort.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell what the dinosaur ate by their teeth.For example, some dinosaur has very sharp teeth and some had dull teeth.The sharp teeth were used for ripping up meat these dinosaurs were called carnivores.The dull teeth were for the dinosaur who ate only plants these dinosaurs were herbivores.They could also tell by the cavities that held the venom.You would expect that a dinosaur that had venom was a carnivore.They used the venom to put their prey into shock so they couldn't struggle to get away.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to bite, and bring down prey is a great advantage but to have poison and have a strong bite is a great adaptation. In today’s society many animals don’t have the power of venom and a strong bite. Also it seems strange that an animal the size of a turkey was able to produce venom, considering that is rare by today’s standards. It makes more sense though, to have venom because then the animal doesn’t have to work as hard to kill its prey.
ReplyDeleteScientists have found that an ancient dinossaur was poisonous. This is a great adaptation whitch would increase the fitness of the species allowing them to sruvive better, especially for a small dinosaur. This dinosaur probably passed on its genes for being poisonous to modern day poisonous animals.
ReplyDeleteWith this dinosaur only being about the size of a turkey, it had to develope some sort of way to kill its prey with out getting hurt itself, because of its tiny size. So by being able to have deliver venom with its bite, made it easier to gets its prey. The prey would simply just die off on its own, then the dino could dig in. In contrast to bigger dinosaurs, that had to chase its food around.
ReplyDeleteThe venom that this dinosaur secreted was useful because without it, it may have been a slightly powerless animal. Vaguely the size of a turkey, this dinosaur may not have been able to hold down prey very well. As the prey steadily got stronger and more resistant to predators, the predators adapted to this as well. The poinson in the glands came into the teeth through channels, stunning its prey and making the job a lot easier. Scientists have evidence of exactly how these glands worked to deliver venom to the teehth. With evidence of how the venom glands worked, the scientists can assume how they were used to kill prey. Discoveries like this can bridge gaps in evolution.
ReplyDeleteThe dinosaur Sinornithosaurus' poisonous bite is a useful adatation because it allows it to kill its prey easier. The venom shocks its prey making struggle less. Scientists think these dinosaurs were poisonous because they saw that on the teeth of the dinosaur's upper jaw, they were grooves which would have poison. They also observed that there were pockets above these teeth that were most likely glands that made the venom.
ReplyDeleteScientists can make an educated guess at the general shape (from bone structure) and color, because dinosaurs would want to camouflage to their environment. We can tell what they ate based on their tooth structure. If the dinosaur has sharp teeth, it was probably a carnivore and used its teeth to rip and eat the meat of its prey. A dinosaur with dull teeth would be likely to be an herbivore, because sharp teeth are not needed to chew plants. Poison is useful to dinosaurs because it enables them to stun their prey so they can't fight back and escape. Poison glands and pockets were found in some dinosaurs recently, proving that some had venomous teeth.
ReplyDeleteScientist first examined the upper jaw; they observed small grooves that ran the length of the tooth from the base to the tip. Typically the grooves contained tiny rivers of poison. It allowed them to inject it into their prays blood stream and perhaps paralyze them from any struggle they might of have against the dinosaur. I wonder if any other kind of living organism had a defense mechanism or even immunity to the poison, like a co-evolution. The only evidence that scientist have of this creature is the fossils that were very well preserved in China and were able to be examined to the slightest detail. They even managed to determine physical traits of how it might have looked.
ReplyDeleteSince the dino had some sort of poisoness venom in its teeth. When the dino bit its prey, and the prey slowly died off of the venom. Why didn't the dino die of the poison in the preys body. the dino had to have some sort of an affect on the food that it killed or bit.
ReplyDeleteThe dinosaur originated 125 million years ago. It adapted to have poisonous bites to fit its size most likely. The proof was found in the jaws of the dinosaur. When scientist looked at other reptiles the poisonous one also had glands on the roof of their mouths above their front teeth.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that such a small dinosaur can be so deadly with just one bite. It also came to a suprise that the dinosaur had feathers because I always imagined dinosaurs being reptiles. When reading this article, a question came to mind; are there any descendents of this dinosaur? I thought this because we are learning about evolution and its possible that either reptiles with venom descended from the dinosaur or maybe even a turkey. After reading this, it has made me curious and want to learn more about dinosaurs.
ReplyDelete-ali r. 6th period
Scientist thinks the dinosaur was poison because of the evidence in the dinosaur’s teeth. The evidence was the grooves in its teeth. The grooves contained the poison that the dinosaurs let out when they bite their prey. It is a useful adaption because they use the poison trick to help them stay alive and the longer they live, they are able to reproduce a stronger offspring.
ReplyDeleteJael
6*
Scientists think the dinosaur, Sinornithosaurus were poisonous, because of the things they discovered when observing the teeth. Scientists can learn a lot by just getting them to open up. The paleontologists focused on the upper part of the dinosaur's upper jaw. In most of the teeth, scientists discovered small grooves that ran the length of the dinosaur's tooth. These grooves contained tiny rivers of poison. they also noticed small pockets on the dinosaur's teeth that produced the venom. The venom was used to kill the prey. They also noticed short and long teeth that were meant to bite and hold the prey. The poison is a useful adaptation for the dinosaur because, by using the poison, the dinosaur can kill the prey easier and the venom instantly shocks the animal so it doesn't have a chance to survive.
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