Parental Feeding Predates Birds

A tooth‑wear study of Maiasaura fossils shows juveniles had pit‑dominated wear (consistent with soft, nutritious foods) while adults showed striated wear (consistent with tougher, fibrous plants), implying parents brought different foods to nestlings. That pattern suggests deliberate provisioning behaviour in some dinosaurs long before the origin of birds. — If parental provisioning is more ancient than previously thought, it changes narratives about when complex social and caregiving behaviours arose and how we teach and interpret the evolution of sociality.