http://in.news.yahoo.com/051118/43/613pq.html
Washington, Nov 18 (Xinhua) Fossilized dinosaur droppings found in central India show sauropod dinosaurs may have fed on grass between 65 million and 71 million years ago, refuting the theory that grasses emerged long after the dinosaur era, a study said Friday.
An international team of researchers, including Vandana Prasad of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow, India, studied the dinosaur coprolites, or fossilized droppings, of 65 million years ago.
The discovery surprised scientists. The earliest grass fossils ever found could be traced back to about 55 million years ago. And the giant plant-eating sauropod dinosaurs were supposed to eat plants like ferns and palms, as they didn't have the special kind of teeth needed to grind up abrasive blades.
Scientists said the diversity of the grasses suggest that grasses must have originated considerably earlier, well over 80 million years ago.
Washington, Nov 18 (Xinhua) Fossilized dinosaur droppings found in central India show sauropod dinosaurs may have fed on grass between 65 million and 71 million years ago, refuting the theory that grasses emerged long after the dinosaur era, a study said Friday.
An international team of researchers, including Vandana Prasad of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow, India, studied the dinosaur coprolites, or fossilized droppings, of 65 million years ago.
The discovery surprised scientists. The earliest grass fossils ever found could be traced back to about 55 million years ago. And the giant plant-eating sauropod dinosaurs were supposed to eat plants like ferns and palms, as they didn't have the special kind of teeth needed to grind up abrasive blades.
Scientists said the diversity of the grasses suggest that grasses must have originated considerably earlier, well over 80 million years ago.
