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Science 21 April 2000:
Vol. 288. no. 5465, pp. 503 - 505
DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5465.503
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Reports

Cardiovascular Evidence for an Intermediate or Higher Metabolic Rate in an Ornithischian Dinosaur

Paul E. Fisher, 1* Dale A. Russell, 2 Michael K. Stoskopf, 3 Reese E. Barrick, 4 Michael Hammer, 5 Andrew A. Kuzmitz 6

Computerized tomography scans of a ferruginous concretion within the chest region of an ornithischian dinosaur reveal structures that are suggestive of a four-chambered heart and a single systemic aorta. The apparently derived condition of the cardiovascular system in turn suggests the existence of intermediate-to-high metabolic rates among dinosaurs.

1 Biomedical Imaging Facility, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 4700 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA.
2 North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences and Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
3 Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, and Environmental Medicine Consortium, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA.
4 Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27696, USA.
5 Hammer and Hammer Paleotek, 260 Dutchman View Drive, Jacksonville, OR 97530, USA.
6 595 North Main Street, Ashland, OR 97520, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Paul_Fisher{at}ncsu.edu

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