Overview

• Publication in Current Biology on June 9 marks the first empirical proof of sauropod diet via cololite analysis.
• The 94–101 million-year-old specimen contained conifer foliage, seed-fern fruiting bodies and angiosperm leaves.
• Unchewed plant fragments indicate sauropods were indiscriminate bulk feeders dependent on fermentation-based digestion.
• Discovery of angiosperms in the gut suggests adaptation to flowering plants within 40 million years of their emergence.
• Researchers caution that conclusions are based on a single subadult sample and may not represent all sauropods or life stages.