One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
A small stone swallowed by a bird, reptile, or fish to aid digestion in the gizzard.
- ‘The presence of gastroliths (gizzard stones) in the rib cages of some specimens shows that this view is correct.’
- ‘The diet of the edentulous forms is unclear, but a recent discovery of gastroliths in an undescribed Chinese ornithomimosaur may indicate a herbivorous/granivorous diet for at least this species.’
- ‘However, the Seismosaurus fossil found with the most gastroliths held only 15 kg of stones, the largest no bigger than a grapefruit.’
- ‘Such stomach stones or gastroliths have been reported from the gut regions or found nearby of prosauropods, sauropods and ornithopods.’
- ‘One of the avian characteristics of the emus is that they also eat small stones (called gastroliths or gizzard stones).’
A hard concretion in the stomach.
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