Bird-like dinosaur was 'venomous'
Garrison Hilliard
A bird-like dinosaur that prowled an ancient forest 125 million years ago
used
venom to subdue its prey, according to a new theory.
Sinornithosaurus 's upper teeth resemble those of "rear-fanged" snakes
which
bite their prey and channel venom into the wound.
The dinosaur probably fed on the abundant birds which inhabited what is
now
north-east China.
The work appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
journal.
Rear-fanged snakes are considered less dangerous than other venomous
snakes.
The fangs in these snakes do not inject venom, but instead channel the
poison
along a groove on the outer surface of teeth that pierce their prey's
flesh.
Sinornithosaurus had upper teeth that were similarly long, grooved and
fang-like.
David Burnham, from the University of Kansas, US, and colleagues, say the
dinosaur's upper jaw also contained a pocket that could have housed a
venom
gland.
This is connected to the base of the teeth by a long groove.
Like rear-fanged snakes, the venom Sinornithosaurus used was probably not
lethal. The researchers suggest it instead caused rapid shock, allowing
the
dinosaur to subdue its prey.
The researchers propose that the length of the dinosaur's fangs allowed it
to
penetrate the thick plumage of birds that populated the forests of
north-east
China during the early Cretaceous period.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8425200.stm
Published: 2009/12/21 22:29:43 GMT
_______________________________________________
Skeptix mailing list
Ske...@lists.opn.org
http://www.lists.opn.org/mailman/listinfo/skeptix_lists.opn.org