Babies preferred Predatory dinosaurs preyed on young sauropods

Some herbivorous dinosaurs reached gigantic sizes - attacking them was risky. The offspring of these sauropods, on the other hand, were easy prey for the carnivores of the time.

DPA

31.01.2026, 22:25

dpa

Up to 30 meters long and weighing dozens of tons: the herbivorous sauropods were the largest animals ever to roam the earth. However, predatory dinosaurs did not prefer these full-grown giants as prey, but rather their young offspring, as an international research team has concluded from analyzing fossils.

The team led by Cassius Morrison from University College London analyzed the so-called Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry in the US state of Colorado. An astonishing number of dinosaur fossils accumulated in this formation 150 million years ago over a period of around 10,000 years - including at least six sauropod species such as Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus - as well as carnivores with partially preserved stomach contents.

"Some fossils show pretty horrific injuries"

From the analyses, the team in the "New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin" derives details about lifestyle and eating habits. "Adult sauropods like Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus were longer than a blue whale. When they walked, the earth shook," says first author Morrison. "But their eggs were only a foot long, and their offspring took many years to grow after hatching."

Due to their size alone, sauropods would not have been able to take care of the eggs, they say. Their offspring were therefore unprotected - similar to newly hatched sea turtles. Predators such as the ten-metre-long Allosaurus would have benefited from this. "Some Allosaurus fossils show pretty horrific injuries, such as those caused by the tail spines of a Stegosaurus," says co-author William Hart from Hofstra University in the US state of New York. In comparison, the offspring were easy prey.