A bone for all seasons

Abstract

Because mammals have such high metabolic rates, it has long been thought that their growth is invulnerable to seasonal variation. But their bones turn out to contain annual lines, just as those of cold-blooded animals do. See Letter p.358 The question of dinosaur endothermy — warm-bloodedness — is a vexed one. One of the cases against is derived from the 'lines of arrested growth' evident in the creatures' bone histology, indicating seasonal slowdown or cessation of growth. Similar features are seen in the bones of reptiles and amphibians, leading to the suggestion that these lines indicate ectothermy. Endotherms, it was assumed, grow throughout the year. The problem was that the endotherms most commonly studied — birds and small mammals — tend to grow to full adult size within a season, leaving little scope for a seasonal hiatus in growth. Now, Meike Kohler et al. present a comprehensive study of wild ruminants — large endothermic mammals — living in a wide variety of climate regimes, from tropical to polar. In all of the animals studied, including deer, antelope and reindeer, there is evidence for arrested growth during the unfavourable season. This precludes the use of lines of arrested growth as an argument in support of ectothermy in dinosaurs.