{"id":23821,"date":"2016-01-14T12:15:26","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T18:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=23821"},"modified":"2016-01-14T12:15:26","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T18:15:26","slug":"dinosaurs-in-heat-the-original-lovebirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dinosaurs-in-heat-the-original-lovebirds\/","title":{"rendered":"Dinosaurs in heat: the original lovebirds"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kathleen Ferraro\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first physical evidence of dinosaur lovefests–long grooves likely created by amorous dinosaurs in the throes of a courtship ritual–has been discovered in Western Colorado, researchers are reporting.<\/p>\n

Paleontologist Martin Lockley, of the University of Colorado at Denver, along with an international research team, discovered scrapes likely made by two-legged, meat-eating theropod dinosaurs about 100 million years ago. The scrapes, evidencing an ardent pawing of the sandstone, parallel modern birds\u2019 breeding behaviors, the researchers said.<\/p>\n

They reported their results in the current edition of the journal Scientific Reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve found several large areas where tracks of carnivorous dinosaurs … with dozens of large scrapes, some the size of bath tubs,\u201d Lockley said. \u201cThese are also the first sites with evidence of dinosaur display rituals ever discovered, and the first physical evidence of courtship behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Theropod
Theropod scrapes from the field. (Martin Lockley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lockley and his team found more than 50 dinosaur scrape display areas, known as leks, in Western Colorado.The scrapes are the remnants of \u201cscrape ceremonies,\u201d the researchers said. During the ceremonies, male dinosaurs would likely have shown off to females by pawing \u201cpseudo nests\u201d out of the sandstone, according to the research team.<\/p>\n

\"Reconstruction
Reconstruction of dinosaurs engaged in sexual display activity. (Artwork by Lida Xing and Yujiang Han)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey were probably not only excited but impressively vocal,\u201d Lockley said of the foreplay. \u201cIt was perhaps like spring break in the Cretaceous [the geologic period from 145 \u00b1 4 to 66 million years ago]: courtship has a very long history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some modern bird species partake in similar \u201cnest scrape displays,\u201d carving pseudo nests to attract mates. Birds\u2019 scrape ceremonies often occur near their final nesting sites. Given this proximity, finding the right type of dinosaur scrapes could indicate a nearby dinosaur nesting site, according to the research team.<\/p>\n

Though the scrapes resemble the courtship markings from contemporary birds, \u00a0paleontologists not involved in the research suggested \u00a0possible alternative explanations for the grooves.<\/p>\n

Some critics contend that the area might be a nest\u00a0site, though the lack of eggshells or hatchlings\u2019 bones is evidence to the contrary. Another explanation is that dinosaurs digging for food or water created the scrapes, though the abundance of water in the area suggests such measures would not have been necessary.<\/p>\n

The scrapes may also be territorial markings, similar to a cat marking its territory with urine. However, scent marking is a mammalian behavior and likely not characteristic of dinosaurs.<\/p>\n

\"3D
3D image of dinosaur scrapes at Dinosaur Ridge, just west of Denver. (Martin Lockley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Michigan paleontologist Jeff Wilson, who was not involved in the research, found the sandstone grooves noteworthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat struck me was that those traces are wild looking. I have never seen a trace like that before, and I think they\u2019re pretty interesting for that reason,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWith these traces, you have direct evidence of what [dinosaurs] did in life, which is super powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, he expressed skepticism, citing a lack of nesting evidence and a need for more parallels between avian marks and the scrapes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not strongly convinced that these are what they say they are because these are such a specific thing,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cThey\u2019re drawing a very specific inference from these tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Lockley and his team stacked up their evidence against other theories and found it to be the most plausible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere dinosaurs the first lovebirds, and did the first dinosaur romances take place on ancient beaches that are today preserved as sandstones at Dinosaur Ridge and Colorado\u2019s western slope?\u201d Lockley and colleagues wrote. \u201cThe scientific evidence points strongly in this direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Researchers Martin Lockley (right) and Ken Cart pose beside large dinosaur scrapes in Western Colorado. (Martin Lockley)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kathleen Ferraro\u00a0 The first physical evidence of dinosaur lovefests–long grooves likely created by amorous dinosaurs in the throes of a courtship ritual–has been discovered in Western Colorado, researchers are reporting. Paleontologist Martin Lockley, of the University of Colorado at Denver, along with an international research team, discovered scrapes likely made by two-legged, meat-eating theropod […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":23826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,585],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-23821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-science","category-winter-2016","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nDinosaurs in heat: the original lovebirds - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dinosaurs-in-heat-the-original-lovebirds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dinosaurs in heat: the original lovebirds - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kathleen Ferraro\u00a0 The first physical evidence of dinosaur lovefests–long grooves likely created by amorous dinosaurs in the throes of a courtship ritual–has been discovered in Western Colorado, researchers are reporting. 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