Jurassic fart: Gassy dinosaurs may have helped warm Earth
-
WASHINGTON - Potty humour just got prehistoric. A new study suggests that dinosaurs may have helped keep an already overheated world warmer with their flatulence and burps 200 million years ago.
The research published yesterday in Current Biology suggests that large dinosaurs made a significant contribution to the greenhouse effect back then. Study author David Wilkinson of Liverpool John Moores University in England estimated that about 570 million tonnes of methane came from dinosaurs. That is similar to total atmospheric levels of methane today produced by livestock, farming and industry. Cows alone now produce nearly 100 tonnes a year of methane.
The study looks at the biggest - and presumably gassiest - dinosaurs, called sauropods. These were the long-necked plant eaters that munched on the top of trees. They were large animals that had food fermenting in their guts for long periods of time because of their giant size, said University of Maryland paleontologist Thomas Holtz, who was not part of the study.
Prof Wilkinson said dinosaur gas was just one factor at a time when the world was quite tropical, about 10°C warmer than now.
Prof Wilkinson added that it was only one of the causes, but dinosaur gas "is big enough to be a measurable effect".
Climate experts say the study makes some sense, but that the warming from dinosaur gas back then is dwarfed by man-made carbon dioxide today from industry. AP