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China’s Feathered Dinosaurs
Stomach stones from
the crop of Caudipteryx
CLOSE WINDOW
bones. Archosaurs—a fundamentally carnivorous lineage that includes both crocodilians
and birds—generally do not chew their food. Instead, they swallow stones into a muscularized
foregut, the gizzard, which can then “chew” the food for them. Large gizzards filled with lots of
stomach stones correlate with ingestion of tough foods, particularly plant material, that require
extra processing to aid digestion.