Study Finds some Dinosaurs Snacked on Seaweed Washed Ashore

Study finds some dinosaurs snacked on seaweed washed ashore

But not all dinosaurs exploited marine resources.

Dinosaur snacked on seaweed washed up on North American coasts, fossil teeth suggest

Storms routinely wash marine material ashore, providing food for land animals and other organisms. This is known as marine subsidization (MS). Today, MS is particularly common in coastal ecosystems and is especially important to animals when land ecosystems produce less food than usual, such as during droughts. A new Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution study has shown that dinos and their prey, too, may have eaten seafood washed onto beaches.

Dinos snacked on seafood washed up on ancient beaches, fossil study shows

Dinos and their prey likely ate seaweeds, which offers an explanation to mysteriously high carbon isotope signatures in their teeth