Paleontologists get an idea of ​​a dinosaur’s ass

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– This is the first for paleontology and can cause giggles. For the first time, scientists were able to describe in detail the cloaca of a dinosaur. If you’re not familiar with this part of the body, CNET translates: It’s basically a “short trade button.” The study, published Tuesday in Modern biology refers to a herbivore the size of a dog that lived about 120 million years ago Psittacosaurus. Researchers from the University of Bristol write that “it was previously noted that the cloacal region has been preserved”

;, although flattened in this fossil found decades ago in China, but the detailed anatomy of the region has not been properly reconstructed. This was achieved through a 3D model of the orifice of the orifice, which was used for defecation, urination, copulation and childbirth.

The New York Times notes that the ‘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 researchers have not preserved the cloaca in any other non- bird fossil dinosaur. So how does this one measure those we are familiar with? It is definitely in its own class, but mostly like those observed in crocodiles and alligators. While most cloacal openings or openings appear as slits or holes, that of Psittacosaurus there are “discrete lateral lips, but they only converge at the front, giving the cloaca a unique v-shaped anatomy,” according to the study. These lips were heavily pigmented, indicating that they may have a signaling function, perhaps sexual; it is possible that they also held musk glands. (Read more discovery stories.)