Vegan Dinosaurs avoided tropics due to climate changes

To the humans, the dinosaurs have always been something of a mystery. Scientists have been digging fossils for a long time, gathering information, learning new things about the way they used to live and the most important question about their extinction. In a new research, the scientists might have found the reason why there were no fossils at or around the tropics. The unpredictable and high temperatures were the prime reason why the large grass eating dinosaurs kept away from the tropics, according to the recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For years, the scientists have been trying to solve the mystery that why these dinosaurs kept away from the tropics but were regularly found away from it. However, the fossils of carnivorous dinosaurs were frequently found near the tropics. In order to recreate the climate back then the scientists worked with rocks that were about 215 million years old. The findings revealed that the temperature was very hot and extreme for the plants to survive. Since the herbivores could eat only plants, they had to leave in search of food.

“Our data suggest it was not a fun place,” study co-author Randall Irmis of the University of Utah said in a statement. “It was a time of climate extremes that went back and forth unpredictably. Large, warm-blooded dinosaurian herbivores weren’t able to exist close to the equator — there was not enough dependable plant food.”

Another possible reason for the dinosaurs to not be there could be that climate change triggered high levels of greenhouse gases, due to which the herbivores were forced to leave the region around the tropics. These greenhouse gases also would have stopped the plant growth in the region.

The study was conducted by the researchers at the University of Southampton in Britain. The researchers were very positive about the research and believe that this was a major step in understanding the life patterns of dinosaurs. A number of fossils were also used in this study as the scientists tried to explain the question at hand.