Paleothermometer to measure body temperature of extinct species

2010/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

The University of Florida has recently developed the first valid method for measuring the temperature of bodies of extinct vertebrate species. The discovery, analyzing the carbon and heavy isotopes of fossils, would allow scientists to more accurately determine whether these animals were of hot or cold blood, for example. At the same time, they could obtain a better estimate of the environmental temperatures of the times when expired animals lived.

The new method uses the carbon-18 and oxygen-18 isotopes of the teeth, bones and shell of the expired vertebrates. When the mineral called bioapatite is generated in teeth, bones, or shells, these two isotopes tend to bind together. But the heat makes this process difficult. Thus, the lower the temperature, the greater the proportion in which they are associated. By measuring agglutination accurately enough, researchers could calculate the temperature at which a mineral originated. And in the case of teeth and bones, they would know the body temperature of the body.

At the moment, the method has been tested with current living species, with an Indian elephant and a Nile crocodile. According to the researchers, they have calculated their temperatures with a margin of error of one or two degrees.