Fossil biomolecules reveal an avian metabolism in the ancestral dinosaur
Abstract
Birds and mammals independently evolved the highest metabolic rates among living animals 1. Their metabolism generates heat that enables active thermoregulation 1, shaping the ecological niches they can occupy and their adaptability to environmental change 2. The metabolic performance of birds, which exceeds that of mammals, is thought to have evolved along their stem lineage 3-10. However, there is no proxy that enables the direct reconstruction of metabolic rates from fossils. Here we use in situ Raman and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to quantify the in vivo accumulation of metabolic lipoxidation signals in modern and fossil amniote bones. We observe no correlation between atmospheric oxygen concentrations 11 and metabolic rates. Inferred ancestral states reveal that the metabolic rates consistent with endothermy evolved independently in mammals and plesiosaurs, and are ancestral to ornithodirans, with increasing rates along the avian lineage. High metabolic rates were acquired in pterosaurs, ornithischians, sauropods and theropods well before the advent of energetically costly adaptations, such as flight in birds. Although they had higher metabolic rates ancestrally, ornithischians reduced their metabolic abilities towards ectothermy. The physiological activities of such ectotherms were dependent on environmental and behavioural thermoregulation 12, in contrast to the active lifestyles of endotherms 1. Giant sauropods and theropods were not gigantothermic 9,10, but true endotherms. Endothermy in many Late Cretaceous taxa, in addition to crown mammals and birds, suggests that attributes other than metabolism determined their fate during the terminal Cretaceous mass extinction.
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The coracoid and scapula fuse late in ontogeny.
“These bones are also unfused in the Thermopolis specimen which is 1.4 times larger consistent with the observation that these bones fuse late in ontogeny [15, 107].”
From The ecology of Archaeopteryx (2026) · cites this paper as [107]
The coracoid and scapula are unfused in the Thermopolis specimen.
“These bones are also unfused in the Thermopolis specimen which is 1.4 times larger consistent with the observation that these bones fuse late in ontogeny [15, 107].”
From The ecology of Archaeopteryx (2026) · cites this paper as [107]
The Thermopolis specimen is 1.4 times larger than the Chicago specimen.
“These bones are also unfused in the Thermopolis specimen which is 1.4 times larger consistent with the observation that these bones fuse late in ontogeny [15, 107].”
From The ecology of Archaeopteryx (2026) · cites this paper as [107]
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Self-citationReply to: Amniote metabolism and the evolution of endothermy
Wiemann, J., Menéndez, I., Crawford, J. M., Fabbri, M., Gauthier, J. A., Hull, P. M., Norell, M. A., & Briggs, D. E. G. (2023) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06412-x · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citationO’Connor, J. K., & Clark, A. D. (2026) · Discover Ecology · doi:10.1007/s44396-026-00026-z
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Paleontology: All dinosaurs big and small
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Abordagens sobre a crise da biodiversidade no jornalismo
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EVOLUTION OF LONGEVITY IN TETRAPODA: SAFETY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN METABOLISM LEVEL
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Re-Evaluating the Probability of the Emergence of Intelligence Using Suitable Terrestrial DataPreprint
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Our Ancient History with Microbes
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“A more recent study using Raman spectroscopy of fossil bone has suggested evolution toward decreased metabolic rates in ornithischians, including Stegosaurus (Wiemann et al .”
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- Authors
- Wiemann, J., Menéndez, I., Crawford, J. M., Fabbri, M., Gauthier, J. A., Hull, P. M., Norell, M. A., & Briggs, D. E. G.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
- Yale University (US)
- American Museum of Natural History (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wiemann, Jasmina
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2022-05-25
- Volume
- 606
- Issue
- 7914
- Pages
- 522-526
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W4281476349
- Semantic Scholar
- a27b1f2c1f9c7e22e8d022361d063d1163d4a99b
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 5
- FWCI
- 11.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Docta Complutense (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) (submittedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Keywords
- endothermy, avian metabolism, lipid oxidation, pterosaurs, sauropod dinosaurs, theropod dinosaurs, ornithischians, plesiosaurs, thermoregulation, ancestral state reconstruction, atmospheric oxygen
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, Bone and Bones, Energy Metabolism, Fossils, Phylogeny, Dinosaurs
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