How did dinosaurs rise to supremacy? This difficult question is given "fresh" insights from new data from a motherload of fossils from Poland. Over 500 bromalites - fossil vomit, gut contents or poo - were analysed with new technology allowing reconstruction of how diets and ecosystems changed over this crucial time. We take a look at some of these fossils and interpretations and speculate about how to experimentally test these smelly findings.

Figure 2: A selection of fossils found inside the bromalites (gut contents, vomit, and poos) from the paper. a - fish scales in a lungfish bromalite, b - teeth and bones with bite marks including a dicyndont in an archosaur bromalite , c - crocodylomorph bones in a theropod bromalite, d- several whole beetles in an early dinosaur bromalite, f - plant fossils including ferns from inside bromalites, g - fish inside a phytosaur coprolite, h and i - fragmented plants.

Figure 3: The authors interpretations of the foodwebs and ecosystems changing during the Triassic.

The paper is "Digestive contents and food webs record the advent of dinosaur supremacy" by Martin Qvarnström from Uppala University and colleagues from Poland, published in Nature..

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08265-4