Yahoo news: Study: Dinosaurs Gained Weight Fast

["Donald Lamson" <dllamson@qwest.net>]

See:

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010725/sc/fast_growing_dinosaurs_2.html


Partial story:



Wednesday July 25 2:41 PM ET

Study: Dinosaurs Gained Weight Fast

By MATT CRENSON,

The biggest dinosaurs reached their enormous proportions by growing faster
than almost any animal that has ever lived, a new analysis of fossilized
bones indicates.

In Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, paleontologists estimate that the
giant apatosaurus, formerly known as brontosaurus, put on more than 30
pounds a day at the height of its adolescent growth spurt.

Argentinasaurus, perhaps the heaviest dinosaur that ever lived, would have
gained more than 100 pounds a day during its most rapid period of growth.

The discovery further discredits the old image of dinosaurs as little more
than overgrown reptiles. It suggests that the animals developed some
advanced metabolic tricks, such as warm-bloodedness, to maintain such rapid
growth rates.





Don Lamson
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509.456.0658