noun
- A stone swallowed by an animal and retained in the stomach or gizzard to aid in grinding food.
Usage: Commonly found in fossil records of dinosaurs and other extinct animals; Also observed in modern birds and some reptiles
Examples
- Paleontologists discovered gastroliths in the fossilized remains of a sauropod dinosaur.
- Modern ostriches swallow gastroliths to help digest tough plant material.
- The gastrolith was polished smooth by years of grinding against food in the animal's stomach.
- Archaeologists use gastroliths as evidence that certain extinct species had specialized digestive systems.
- Crocodiles and alligators naturally swallow gastroliths as part of their normal feeding behavior.