Did dinosaurs produce “milk” for their young?

As if putting plume on dinosaurs was n’t abuse enough , a radical new theory from Paul Else of the University of Wollongong is proposing that dinosaurs make a kind of Milk River for their offspring , that they fundamentally lactated — a physiological process that ’s affiliate almost exclusively with mammals . But as Else ’s Modern newspaper suggest , some modern shuttlecock feed their fresh hatched unseasoned with secretions similar to the milk of mammal . So why not dinosaurs , too ?

Top image : Artist ’s rendition of 190 - millon - year - older Massospondylusnests , egg , hatchling and adult by Julius Csotonyi .

Indeed , pigeons , emperor penguins , and flamingos all produce a milk - like nub for their untried . But rather than deliver food to their babies with breasts , these birds regurgitate the centre and air it lip - to - mouth . Else hypothesizes that the dinosaurs did a standardized thing .

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“ Since birds and dinosaurs share much in common I propose that some dinosaurs likely used this alimentation scheme , ” he enjoin in astatement .

It ’s important to note that this is n’t just the vomiting of previously use up food ( i.e. partially ferment plant topic ) . Some birds produce these secretions from various contribution of their upper digestive pamphlet , including the harvest organ , esophageal facing , and proventriculus . The result “ Milk River ” is similar to what mammal develop ; it hold in similar levels of fat and protein , along with carotenoids , antibodies and , in the cause of pigeons and doves , epidermal growth factor .

Else , a molecular life scientist with an interest in membrane lipid , come up with the idea when considering how hard it must have been for dinosaur parents weighing several t to feed their relatively tiny issue . Moreover , paleontologists experience that dinosaur baby grow quickly , which , when considering Else ’s business , presents a sort of conundrum . The only agency it was potential , argues Else , was a descriptor of suckling .

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Else nominate that dinosaur used secretory eating to increase the rate of growth of their young ( the “ milk ” may have contained growth endocrine ) . And like mammalian tit milk , the secretions could have provided immune responses , among other benefit .

His new paper was justaccepted for publicationin The Journal of Experimental Biology . strike forward , Else ’s hope is that a “ real ” dinosaur biologist will prove or confute his possibility — what could be easier said than done given the dearth of palaeontological grounds in support of such an ( unmistakable ) wild claim .

But that said , he take it might be possible to prove by learn dinosaurs like the herbivorous duck billed hadrosaur — dinosaur that may have sustained their young — not with fermented plant matter — but with this specialised secretion .

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