Fossil analysis shows flowering plants used dinosaurs to spread seeds 74 million years ago
By
Jake Buehler
Summary
A fossil analysis reveals that flowering plants (angiosperms) produced fleshy, blueberry-sized fruits and winged seeds over 74 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period. This challenges the long-held scientific belief that angiosperms only began using animals to disperse their seeds after the dinosaurs went extinct. The findings suggest that dinosaurs and extinct rodentlike mammals may have eaten these fruits and helped spread the plants' seeds, indicating a more complex ecological relationship between early flowering plants and vertebrates than previously understood.
Source
Twitter / XFossil analysis shows flowering plants used dinosaurs to spread seeds 74 million years agosciencenews.orgKey quotes
· 3 pulledFruit salad may have been on the menu for some dinosaurs.
Over 74 million years ago, there was a richer garden of fruit- and seed-bearing plants than scientists thought.
A fossil analysis suggests that tall forest trees spread winged seeds and fed animals with fleshy, blueberry-sized fruits long before the reign of the dinosaurs ended.
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