News From the Field
Caltech-led Team First to Directly Measure Body Temperatures of Extinct Vertebrates

May 24, 2010

Questions about when, why, and how vertebrates stopped relying on external factors to regulate their body temperatures and began heating themselves internally have long intrigued scientists. Now, a team led by researchers at Caltech has taken a critical step toward providing some answers. They have developed the first method for the direct measurement of the body temperatures of large extinct vertebrates--through the analysis of rare isotopes in the animals' bones, teeth and eggshells. Full Story

Source
California Institute of Technology

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