Paleontologists in Germany have unearthed the oldest known fossilized vomit from a land-dwelling dinosaur, dating back approximately 290 million years. The discovery, detailed in Scientific Reports, offers a rare glimpse into the diet and hunting strategies of early terrestrial predators. This isn’t just a gross-out find; it’s crucial because land-based dinosaur food webs are notoriously hard to reconstruct.
A Rare Find: What is a Regurgitalite?
Unlike fossilized poop (coprolites), which are more common in aquatic settings, regurgitalites are exceptionally rare on land. The fossil, dubbed MNG 17001, was found at the Bromacker dig site near Berlin. Its composition – lacking the typical cylindrical shape and high phosphorus content of coprolites – immediately set it apart. Instead, it’s a mineralized mix of partially digested bones suspended without a heavy sedimentary matrix.
Why Vomit Matters
The reason this matters is simple: many predators, even today, regurgitate indigestible material to conserve energy. This is the first confirmed instance of such behavior in a Paleozoic land predator. The fossil’s preservation in a wet floodplain environment was key to its survival over millennia.
What Did the Dinosaur Eat?
Computed tomography scans revealed dozens of half-digested bones, including those of Thuringothyris mahlendorffae (a reptile ancestor), Eudibamus cursoris (an early bipedal vertebrate), and, crucially, a diadectid. Diadectids were massive, herbivorous tetrapods, growing up to 10 feet long. This suggests the predator was similarly large.
The Suspects
The team narrowed the possibilities down to two predators known to inhabit the Bromacker region: Tambacarnifex unguifalcatus (a large monitor lizard-like creature) and Dimetrodon teutonis (recognizable by its distinctive sail-fin). Either could have been responsible for the vomit.
The discovery demonstrates that opportunistic hunting and efficient digestion strategies, even in the form of regurgitation, have been crucial survival mechanisms for carnivores for hundreds of millions of years.
The fossilized vomit isn’t just a curiosity; it’s a time capsule into an ancient ecosystem, revealing how predators maximized survival by efficiently processing and discarding what they couldn’t digest.
