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Article: Dinosaur body temperature: The occurrence of endothermy and ectothermy
- Article from:
- Paleobiology
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Paleontological Society Winter 2003. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Abstract.-Despite numerous studies, the thermal physiology of dinosaurs remains unresolved. Thus, perhaps the commonly asked question whether dinosaurs were ectotherms or endotherms is inappropriate, and it is more constructive to ask which dinosaurs were likely to have been endothermic and which
ones ectothermic. Field data from crocodiles over a large size range show that body temperature fluctuations decrease with increasing body mass, and that average daily body temperatures increase with increasing mass. A biophysical model, the biological relevance of which was tested against field data, was used to predict body temperatures of dinosaurs. However, rather than predicting thermal ...