Dinosaurs thrived on bird-like lungs

A study published by the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom says that the prehistoric Earth's atmosphere was rich in oxygen, and that dinosaurs were able to reproduce in large numbers, thanks to lungs similar to those of today's birds, which helped them breathe more efficiently.
In a paper published in the British journal The Royal Society Open Science, the team, led by academics, said they used fault scanning to look at the lung cavity structure of four modern crocodiles and 29 modern birds, comparing them with fossils from 16 species of dinosaurs.Brockhurst, a University of Manchester scholar and co-author of the
report, said it had been thought that some dinosaur lungs resembled those of birds, while others resembled those of reptiles such as crocodiles, but all of the dinosaur lungs analysed in the study were closer to birds.
today's birds have unique airbag structures that allow them to breathe more efficiently with oxygen. Dinosaurs had similar lungs that allowed them to better adapt to the thin atmosphere of prehistoric oxygen, a survival advantage over other animals. The researchers believe that this difference is likely to be an important factor in the dinosaurs' ability to reproduce in large numbers and "rule" the Earth at that time. (Source: Zhang Jiawei, Xinhua News Agency)