Fossilized dinosaur feces and vomit help scientists reconstruct the creatures’ rise

Using fossilized feces and vomit samples from Poland, scientists have reconstructed how dinosaurs came to dominate the Earth millions of years ago.

Researchers aren’t sure whether dinosaurs’ rise over the course of 30 million years happened because of luck, skill, climate or some combination. But they came away knowing this: “It was not a sudden thing,” said study co-author Martin Qvarnström from Uppsala University.

The new study, published Wednesday (yesterday, Macau time) in the journal Nature, analyzed hundreds of dino droppings to reconstruct who was eating whom 200 million years ago.

The first dinosaurs were go-getters, Qvarnström said, eating whatever they could — including insects, fish and plants.

When climate conditions changed, they were quick to adapt. Plant-eating dinosaurs, for example, ate a greater variety of greens than other vegetarians of the time, so it was easier to expand their palates when wetter conditions gave rise to new plant species.

Since the study’s findings were limited to Polish fossils, Qvarnström said he’d like to see if their ideas hold steady against fossil records from around the world.