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– It’s a first in paleontology, and one that might cause a giggle. For the first time, scientists have been able to describe a dinosaur’s cloaca in detail. If you’re not familiar with that body part, CNET translates: It’s essentially “an all-rounder butthole.” The study appeared in Tuesday Current Biology concerns a dog-sized herbivore that lived about 120 million years ago Psittacosaurus. Scientists at the University of Bristol write that “the cloacal area was previously noted to have been preserved,” although flattened in this fossil found in China decades ago, but the detailed anatomy of the region had not been properly reconstructed. That’s what they did, via a 3D model of the opening of the opening, which was used for defecation, urination, copulation and birth.
The New York Times notes that ‘cloaca’ comes from the Latin word for ‘sewer’ and is not at all unique to dinosaurs: some modern birds, reptiles, amphibians and a handful of mammals have one, but as far as the researchers know, the cloaca is not It’s kept in another non-avian dinosaur fossil. So how does it compare to those we know? It is definitely in a class of its own, but most resembles that of crocodiles and alligators. While most cloacal openings or vents appear as slots or holes, that of the Psittacosaurus has “discrete lateral lips, but they only converge anteriorly, giving the cloaca a unique V-shaped anatomy,” the study said. Those lips were heavily pigmented, indicating that they could have a signaling function, perhaps a sexual one; they may also contain musk glands. (Read more discovery stories.)