Tea Break October: Seaweed-Snacking Dinosaurs and a Bullroarer That Fooled Lions
A New Study Suggests Coastal Dinosaurs Were Eating Marine Foods, While a Second Reconnects Forgotten Museum Objects With the 19th Century !xun Boys Who Made Them
Dinosaurs munching away on things from the sea and children whose childhood squabbles and stories turn out to form an important part in preserving a culture's past. One story deals with the secrets locked away in dinosaur teeth, the other with the stories tucked away in a few forgotten objects in a museum store.
Welcome back to another Tea Break. This month we look at two very different stories, both covering aspects of things we thought we understood rather well. The first is about dinosaurs (everyone loves a good dinosaur story). Specifically, a mystery about their diets that may seem obvious, but as they say, hindsight is 50/50. The other concerns some objects tucked away in a museum collection, some of which turn out to belong to some ! xun boys. They include a toy from a childhood squabble that almost blinded one of them and a musical instrument tied to the roar of lions. Both show how much we can still learn from small things we thought we knew.
Seaweed Chomping Dinos?
PLATE II. Specimen sampled for stable isotope analysis. Credit: Forster et al. 2026
TL;DR: Dinosaurs, crocodilians, and fish living along the coasts of North America’s Western Interior Seaway have unusually ¹³C-enriched tooth enamel and bone, possibly because they were eating marine foods
The rest of this story is brewing for supporters
Most stories here are free and always will be. A few, like this one, are a thank-you to the people who keep the kettle on — from R48 once, or R80 a month. Supporters read everything, and every rand goes into the research and the writing.
