How did dinosaurs mate?

WITH DIFFICULTY! AFTER A FEMALE sauropod indicated her receptiveness (maybe by releasing pungent odours then moving her tail aside), a huge male would have had to raise himself onto his hind legs before mounting. Meanwhile, dinosaurs like Stegosaurus would have needed to avoid hurting themselves on spikes and plates. And if sexual intercourse was similar to what happens in crocodiles and birds, reproduction would mean internal fertilisation – penis into cloaca – and it would have been quick. But as yet, no fossils have caught dinosaurs in the act of copulation. Scientists are more confident about courtship behaviour. A trackway in Colorado features hollows (some over 5m long) created by the backwards scraping of large theropods, which could be evidence of a lekking ground or lek – a place where…

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Bbc Wildlife (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2024

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