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Despite the seemingly basic things we don't know about dinosaurs, we do know some surprising things – like their body temperatures.

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

• Clumped Isotopes: heavy isotopes that are bonded to other heavy isotopes.
• Ectotherm: any animal whose regulation of body temperature depends on external sources.
• Endotherm: an animal that is dependent on or capable of the internal generation of heat.
• Isotope: each of two or more forms of the same element that contain equal numbers of protons but different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, and hence differ in relative atomic mass but not in chemical properties; in particular.
• Mesotherm: a type of animal with a thermoregulatory strategy intermediate to cold-blooded ectotherms and warm-blooded endotherms.
• Metabolism: the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.

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CREDITS

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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Arcadi Garcia i Ruis | Storyboard Artist Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

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REFERENCES

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Dawson, Robin R., et al. “Eggshell Geochemistry Reveals Ancestral Metabolic Thermoregulation in Dinosauria.” Science Advances, vol. 6, no. 7, Feb. 2020, p. eaax9361, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax9361

Eagle, Robert A., et al. “Dinosaur Body Temperatures Determined from Isotopic (13C-18O) Ordering in Fossil Biominerals.” Science, vol. 333, no. 6041, 22 July 2011, pp. 443–445, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1206196

Gillooly, James F, et al. “Dinosaur Fossils Predict Body Temperatures.” PLoS Biology, vol. 4, no. 8, 11 July 2006, p. e248, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040248

Lacerda, Julio. “Were Dinosaurs Cold-Blooded or Warm-Blooded? Actually, Neither.” Earth Archives, eartharchives.org/articles/eggshells-tell-scientists-about-dinosaur-body-temperatures/index.html

M.C. Dalconi, et al. “Structure of Bioapatite in Human Foetal Bones: An X-Ray Diffraction Study.” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, vol. 200, 1 Jan. 2003, pp. 406–410, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0168-583x(02)01730-5

Nicholas Carter. “What’s Going on with Troodon?” Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum, 11 Feb. 2019, dinomuseum.ca/2019/02/whats-going-on-with-troodon

Tagliavento, Mattia, et al. “Evidence for Heterothermic Endothermy and Reptile-like Eggshell Mineralization in Troodon, a Non-Avian Maniraptoran Theropod.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 120, no. 15, 3 Apr. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213987120

Wiemann, Jasmina, et al. “Fossil Biomolecules Reveal an Avian Metabolism in the Ancestral Dinosaur.” Nature, vol. 606, no. 7914, 25 May 2022, pp. 522–526, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04770-6

Wikipedia Contributors. “Clumped Isotopes.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Aug. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clumped_isotopes