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http://www.earthtimes.org/nature/osteoderms-storing-minerals-helped-huge-dinosaurs-survive/1671/
It seems a little obvious really, seeing as osteoderms are just modified bones, but a new report suggests the titanosaurs may have used calcium and phosphorus stored inside osteoderms. Osteoderms are loose bones held inside the skin (osteo-bone and derm- from dermis-skin), and are present in many reptile groups, including modern crocodillians and armadillos, and also Stegosaurs (their plates and spikes), Ankylosaurs, and many extinct archosaur groups, such as the large, crocodile like Rauisuchians of the Triassic. Evidence of these bones has also been found in many Titanosaurs, the large group of sauropods that took over from the Diplodicids and Brachiosaurids of the Jurassic, including Saltasaurus, famous for having armour.
Saltasaurus, an Argentinian Titanosaur
It seems a little obvious really, seeing as osteoderms are just modified bones, but a new report suggests the titanosaurs may have used calcium and phosphorus stored inside osteoderms. Osteoderms are loose bones held inside the skin (osteo-bone and derm- from dermis-skin), and are present in many reptile groups, including modern crocodillians and armadillos, and also Stegosaurs (their plates and spikes), Ankylosaurs, and many extinct archosaur groups, such as the large, crocodile like Rauisuchians of the Triassic. Evidence of these bones has also been found in many Titanosaurs, the large group of sauropods that took over from the Diplodicids and Brachiosaurids of the Jurassic, including Saltasaurus, famous for having armour.
Saltasaurus, an Argentinian Titanosaur
