Comment on "Evidence for mesothermy in dinosaurs"

Science. 2015 May 29;348(6238):982. doi: 10.1126/science.1260061.

Abstract

Grady et al. (Reports, 13 June 2014, p. 1268) suggested that nonavian dinosaur metabolism was neither endothermic nor ectothermic but an intermediate physiology termed "mesothermic." However, rates were improperly scaled and phylogenetic, physiological, and temporal categories of animals were conflated during analyses. Accounting for these issues suggests that nonavian dinosaurs were on average as endothermic as extant placental mammals.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Body Temperature*
  • Dinosaurs / growth & development*
  • Dinosaurs / metabolism*
  • Energy Metabolism*