Pontzer

Measuring dino fitness - more evidence that two-legged dinosaurs were warm-blooded

edyong | November 10, 2009

The question of whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded or cold-blooded is one of the most enduring in palaeontology. Did they generate their own body heat like today's mammals; was their temperature more influenced by their environment like today's reptiles; or did they use a mixture of both strategies? Scientists have put forward a slew of arguments for all of these alternatives, but Herman Pontzer from Washington University has a new take on things which suggests that many dinosaurs were indeed warm-blooded. Based on our knowledge of living animals, Pontzer worked out the energy that 14…