Dinosaur gases 'warmed the Earth'

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17953792


Apatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurus, produced a lot of wind

Giant dinosaurs could have warmed the planet with their flatulence, say researchers.

British scientists have calculated the methane output of sauropods, including the species known as Brontosaurus.

By scaling up the digestive wind of cows, they estimate that the population of dinosaurs - as a whole - produced 520 million tonnes of gas annually.

They suggest the gas could have been a key factor in the warm climate 150 million years ago.

[qb]

1. Just as they are now.

[BlueJazz]

2. This sounds like bullshit. If there was even a grain of truth in this post...

...my dog would have caused the earth to be as hot as venus by now..

[pipoman]

3. Your dog and Rush combined anyway, huh?

[BlueJazz]

11. True..very true.

[Marrah_G]

4. dog farts are the WORST

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. You have not met my cat.

I have NEVER had a cat that could clear a room,
Until now.
Even the dog runs away from it.
The dog has his own problems, but the cat "problem" is powerful, deadly and, in true cat fashion, very sneaky.
fortunately, he likes being outside.

[Marrah_G]

9. LOL

I have a cat who STINKS.... but my boyfriends malamute literally makes me leave the room to keep from vomitting

[BlueJazz]

12. "Even the dog runs away from it."

[ErikJ]

13. Try cookie sheet and/or soy-free and grain free kibbles.

My dogs very rarely pass gas. It might be because we feed the large dog on large cookie sheet where he has to eat one kibble at a time. Gulping dog food can cause gas too I heard. The indoor dog I just throw the kibble on the living room carpet and let him hunt for each kibble. He seems to like it.

[AlbertCat]

5. This sounds like bullshit.

If you see the word "Brontosaurus" ... it's BS. Or at least dumbed down beyond helpful.

[Ptah]

6. What if it said, "Apatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurus"?

[AlbertCat]

10. "Apatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurus"?

Why even say that? Just use "Apatosaurus".

And they aren't even the biggest... so why mention the beast at all in the contex of what this article is suggesting? It's not even the biggest fart machine.



The Apatosaurus is a member of Diplodocus... the green one!

[NickB79]

7. How could you estimate the number of sauropods globally to get these numbers?

You'd need to know the average carrying capacity of all major landmasses, the average mass of the species of sauropods, the number of sauropods alive at a specific time, and then assume that their diet of largely conifers and ferns would produce the same methane output as modern herbivore's diets of angiosperm plants such as grasses. That alone would assume their digestive system functioned like a modern-day cow, when in reality digestive functions and methane production vary widely from species to species.

For example, certain kangaroo species have been found to produce much less methane per kilogram of food ingested than cattle: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13946941

[3c273a]

14. It's not flatulance...

it is belching. I know that is not as titillating, but...

[Canuckistanian]

15. Whichever end it comes from, it's still methane

And methane is 25X more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2.

The only thing I question is how they can estimate the total number of Apatasaurus'.

[LongTomH]

16. I used to joke with my high school friends about: "What would happen if a dinosaur got into..

...a bean patch!" Looks like these guys were taking the idea seriously!