Dinosaur Excrements Tell the Story of Grass

Studying fossilized dinosaur excrements, researchers have infirmed the theory which said that grass appeared long after the dinosaurs became extinct.

According to a study published today, 65 to 71 million years ago, the most prominent plant-eating dinosaurs digested different types of grass.

Most people would not have fathomed that they would eat grasses," noted lead researcher Caroline Stromberg of the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

According to AP, Stromberg together with an Indian team of paleobotanists analyzed some samples of sauropod excrements, scientifically known as coprolites.

They've come to this conclusion by identifying in the coprolites' composition microscopic silica particles, known as phytoliths, which form unique patterns, allowing plants to be accurately identified.

"These remarkable results will force reconsideration of many long-standing assumptions about dinosaur ecology", wrote Dolores Piperno and Hans-Dieter Sues of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Sauropods were herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and small heads. Their most defining characteristic was their size, some specimens reaching up to 40 meters in length.