Relatives of Fruitadens, which have been found in England, South Africa and other countries, lived when "all continental land masses were connected into a single, giant continent called Pangea," Chiappe said. Some of these dinosaurs probably then traveled to North America, explaining how the bones of the tiny dinosaur wound up in Colorado. "Colorado is the place where the rocks containing the fossils of Fruitadens are exposed, but presumably the species lived elsewhere in North America," he added, mentioning that it would have coexisted with other, much larger dinosaurs, such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus. The presence of such gigantic herbivores may even help to explain why heterodontosaurids shrunk over the years and became omnivores. Not able to compete with the giant sauropods, "heterodontosaurs evolved to become small, ecological generalists. Think modern raccoons," Porro said. "Dinosaurs were once thought of as large, lumbering plant or meat eaters," she added. "We now know there were lots of small dinosaurs about, that some dinosaurs were specialists that ate primarily fish or insects, that different species of plant-eating dinosaurs may have specialized in different types of plants, and that some dinosaurs may have climbed trees or even dug burrows." She concluded: "We can now envision the world of the dinosaurs as a much richer, fuller place." Visitors to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles can soon view a display featuring the tiny Fruitadens next to the 70-foot-long dinosaur Mamenchisaurus, which also lived during the Late Jurassic. Related Links: HowStuffWorks.com: Dinosaur Videos |
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