Dinosaur fossil spills its guts, out come worms

[Allan Edels <edels@msn.com>]

> From CNN.COM:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/10/24/dinosaurs.guts.reut/index.html

Text follows
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Dinosaur fossil spills its guts, out come worms
POSTED: 1:04 p.m. EDT, October 24, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- They may have ruled the land and the seas 75 million 
years ago but even dinosaurs fell prey to the lowest of the low -- gut 
worms, scientists reported Monday.

An unusually well-preserved fossil of a duck-billed dinosaur dug up in 
Montana has revealed great detail of the animal's insides, including what 
appear to be tiny burrows that would have been made by worms, the team at 
the University of Colorado at Boulder found.

They found more than 200 suspected parasite burrows that most likely were 
made by tiny worms similar to annelids and nematodes that infest animals 
today, said assistant geology professor Karen Chin.

"Fossil evidence for interactions between dinosaurs and invertebrates 
usually involves insects," said Chin. "This research is exciting because it 
provides evidence for the movement of tiny, soft-bodied organisms inside the 
gut cavity of a dinosaur."

Chin and graduate student Justin Tweet are presenting their findings to a 
meeting in Philadelphia of the Geological Society of America.

"Typically a carcass attracts multiple scavengers, and this one was largely 
undisturbed," Tweet said in a statement.

"Since the carcass was apparently buried before it had a chance to fall 
apart, we think remnant parasites may have been living inside of the animal 
when it died."

Duck-billed dinosaurs were plant-eaters, reaching up to 50 feet long and 
weighing up to three tons.

This fossil, nicknamed "Leonardo", also revealed chewed-up plants in its 
gut, useful for helping to identify what dinosaurs ate.

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Allan Edels