WASHINGTON - Potty humour just got prehistoric. A new study
suggests that dinosaurs may have helped keep an already overheated
world warmer with their flatulence and burps 200 million years
ago.
The research published yesterday in Current Biology suggests that
large dinosaurs made a significant contribution to the greenhouse
effect back then. Study author David Wilkinson of Liverpool John
Moores University in England estimated that about 570 million
tonnes of methane came from dinosaurs. That is similar to total
atmospheric levels of methane today produced by livestock, farming
and industry. Cows alone now produce nearly 100 tonnes a year of
methane.
The study looks at the biggest - and presumably gassiest -
dinosaurs, called sauropods. These were the long-necked plant
eaters that munched on the top of trees. They were large animals
that had food fermenting in their guts for long periods of time
because of their giant size, said University of Maryland
paleontologist Thomas Holtz, who was not part of the study.
Prof Wilkinson said dinosaur gas was just one factor at a time when
the world was quite tropical, about 10°C warmer than now.
Prof Wilkinson added that it was only one of the causes, but
dinosaur gas "is big enough to be a measurable effect".
Climate experts say the study makes some sense, but that the
warming from dinosaur gas back then is dwarfed by man-made carbon
dioxide today from industry. AP