Theropods couldn't taste sweets

[DinoLord]

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/09/dinosaurs-lost-the-ability-to-taste-sugar-hummingbirds-re-evolved-it/

I guess any omnivorous Cretaceous theropods there may have been were not eating much fruit.

[laticauda]

I guess any omnivorous Cretaceous theropods there may have been were not eating much fruit.
[/quote]

Perhaps, but lets not forget the power of sight, smell, and location.  Birds have excellent color vision, so it is possible they did eat the fruit that had the correct appealing color.

[DinoLord]

Perhaps, but lets not forget the power of sight, smell, and location.  Birds have excellent color vision, so it is possible they did eat the fruit that had the correct appealing color.

Good points. Any omnivorous theropods probably did eat some fruit if it was available, but I guess they didn't have a large frugivorous component to their diet (unless they too re-evolved the ability to taste sweets). The angiosperms were probably more geared towards attracting ornithischians anyways.

[tyrantqueen]

In the UK, the word "sweets" means what you would call in America "candy". Basically this stuff:



Was that intentional? I find it sort of humourous, but it's also true.

[Paleogene Pals]

In my part of the world, "sweet" refers to black gold, Texas tea.

[DinoLord]

In the UK, the word "sweets" means what you would call in America "candy".

Was that intentional? I find it sort of humourous, but it's also true.

I had always preferred using the term 'sweets' over 'candy' myself. 

[CityRaptor]

Interesting. I wonder what that means for the chocolate bar eating Velociraptor in the Lost World novel...

[amanda]

Theropods ate jelly babies!!! I am SURE of it. 100%....

[HD-man]

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/09/dinosaurs-lost-the-ability-to-taste-sugar-hummingbirds-re-evolved-it/

I guess any omnivorous Cretaceous theropods there may have been were not eating much fruit.

Maybe I missed something, but how do they know that this went for theropods in particular & not dinos in general, given their carnivorous archosaur ancestors?

[Ultimatedinoking]

This isn't really surprising, many animals can't taste some tastes.

So no chocosaurus rex. 

[stargatedalek]

I think its highly likely for omnivorous (especially frugivorous) theropods to have also re-evolved such taste
and on that note, are there any theropods thought to be frugivorous? I would think oviraptors, but that might just be the parrot bill stereotype

[tyrantqueen]

It's not a dinosaur, but I believe Tapejara/Tupandactylus was thought to be a frugivore because of the shape of its beak.

[Ultimatedinoking]

I think its highly likely for omnivorous (especially frugivorous) theropods to have also re-evolved such taste
and on that note, are there any theropods thought to be frugivorous? I would think oviraptors, but that might just be the parrot bill stereotype

But remember, plant parts that are often called "fruit" didn't appear until pretty late in the Mesozoic, and proto fruit might have been sour, ad since meat and insects don't have a "sweetness" to them (except honeypot ants), the theropods the needed to get their sweet tooths back were probably few and very specialized, like oviraptors.